Dr. Mohini Promod Sardey is currently serving as HOD- Dept. of ENTC at AISSMS Institute of Information Technology, Pune. With major areas of interest in Image Processing, Content Based Image Retrieval, Super Resolution, Analog Electronics, Digital Electronics, she has a wide teaching experience of 28 years. Recently elected as Executive Council Member of IETE and successfully running activities under IETE and ISTE students chapter, she has published several papers at National and International Journals and Conferences. 

AISSMS Institute of Information Technology

How do you plan on using the immense knowledge and experience you have?

“Improvising wider set of student skills and abilities”

Technology goes through a lot of changes each year wherein every teacher must be on their toes to grasp newer technologies, in order to pass them down to their students. To be a good teacher for the students of the 21 st century, teachers must self-evaluate themselves first. I usually focus on all types of student development and improve their social, cognitive, affective as well as psychomotor skills, by imbibing a sense of self-responsibility and encouragement in them to grow. I always like to reinstate this generation - good and clear vision, physically fit, mentally matured, who can sense the future needs and maintain integrity. Apart from teaching students, I learned a lot of new things myself. This has brought me to realize that a teacher is always a student for life. 

How, according to you, has Covid-19 impacted the placements?

“A deliberate shift from campus to online modes”

We all realized the consequences of Covid-19, and adopted digital knowledge and got acquainted with it. Due to the adoption of the digital world, companies have realized that it is possible to work from home and thus a new culture of ‘Work From Home’ came

into play. Due to this, companies reduced capital expenditures resulting in gaining annual profits. Due to the online work culture, online meeting platforms like ZOOM, Google Meet, Teams, etc. are in demand and their share price sky-rocketed to no bounds. These companies hire lakhs of employees, full-time and part-time, to fulfill customers' demands. Thus online players are clear winners leaving the traditional norm behind. Traditional offline education has turned to online in a span of just a few months. Things that once seemed impossible are now possible. However, online classes also have a negative side with many gaps resulting in slowdown in major recruitment activities where graduate placement is severely affected or postponed to the following years.

What do you think are your roles and responsibilities to the students?

“Recognizing and recreating learners” 

Guiding students with respect to good projects and sharing knowledge, I look forward to being a good mentor and counselor for them. I identify and evaluate each student’s potential and caliber, and thereby focus on improving students’ learning skills through quality programs and curriculum in the department. The ultimate goal is to create self-growers and -learners. Also, through the example of pandemics, I make them learn wider aspects of human life. I make them aware of what type of difficulties can occur in the future, how to face the situation, how to balance finance, how to face changes in the education system, how to identify career opportunities, etc. 

What different industry-connect programs are organized to give students a corporate flavour?

“Training internships, competitions and development projects”

We have a very active i-connect cell that works in association with corporate companies, MoU is done and then association continues with respect to guest lectures/expert lectures, workshops, internships, sponsored projects, etc. Students with good caliber sometimes convert an internship into a job. Also, we organize Industrial visits to bridge the gap between institute and industry. Students are very inspired to participate in project competitions such as Hackathons, various national level and international level competitions by professional bodies such as IEEE, ISTE, IETE, etc. In order to make each student ready for placements, we organize various activities like training programs (hardware or software oriented), industry/company-specific mock interviews in order to learn company ethics. Our institute has an R & D cell as well where students of all branches contribute their knowledge and a few of the students also get to start their business and become successful entrepreneurs.

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Any insights on placements at AISSMS IOIT?

“Campus drives with diverse approaches”

Our institute organizes job fairs, massive talent hunts at our campus apart from regular placement activities. This helps in choosing diverse and potential candidates. All the students are not the same and the choice of companies in terms of talent is also vast. Keeping in mind that today’s generation is aware of all available technologies, our TPO makes use of social media channels which provide an effective medium for recruiters to amp up their upcoming campus hiring drives. Any company coming to conduct campus interviews at our campus institute tries to establish strong relations and tries to see if the maximum number of students can get internships, sponsored projects, etc.

How do you help your students to cope with the high competition outside?

“Developing a healthy attitude towards winning and losing”

Winning and losing are two sides of a coin and remain with every individual throughout their journey. The first step is to set the goal and put in tiring efforts to achieve it. They should be very proud when successful and at the same time should not lose hope if they don’t always be on the top. Students must understand self-interest and limitations; must be mentally strong and physically fit. I make them do the self-SWOT analysis to understand strengths and weaknesses, and make use of strengths and try to overcome weaknesses. We help them learn to cooperate and develop problem-solving skills through various activities. 

What approaches do you bring in apart from the academic knowledge to train the students?

“Enriching skills and learning prospectus of students”

Apart from classroom teaching, students are made to develop collaborative learning skills, including structured tasks that are designed to be performed by a group of students, which is like a group study. Collaborative learning activities inspire peer groups to develop observation skills, listening skills, thinking skills, language skills, etc. Also, we help our students to be active learners and create access to demanding concepts and texts, discuss their own experiences and knowledge of the world of education. We develop constructive interaction with peers and make massive use of online learning to develop the skills in which one is interested. 

What would you like students to know about AISSMS IOIT that they might not know?

“Quality remarks and multifold sponsored projects”

Students not only experience joyful learning but they grow as independent human beings and develop as responsible citizens of India in a pleasant atmosphere at our institution. All students at AISSMS IOIT are blessed with a bright future and prosperity. We stood No. 1 consecutively for 3 years in the prestigious MindSpark Project completion, organized by the Government College of Engineering, Pune. Furthermore, the Department of E&TC Engineer ISF (IETE Students Forum) also got 1st prize for 3 consecutive years. We have a Centre of excellence by Affordable Agriculture Lab and Texas instruments where interdisciplinary projects like Agri-Incubator are being done. Also, IIT, Powai sponsored hardware kits on which students can do projects in different areas are being promoted to make them potential Engineers. 

What valuable advice would you give to the students to have a prosperous career?

“Be efficient and self-sufficient”

No matter how difficult the career phase is, one must be determined to be better than their peers. A situation like covid-19 will neither slow down nor recession can halt recruitment completely. Students must utilize the online platforms, upgrade themselves through certification programs in their respective areas of interest. Today’s generation is very smart and up to the mark, but somewhere lacks responsibility; know our responsibilities and be graceful with everyone. 

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How would you strategize the syllabus relevance with?

“Upgrading with University norms and current situation”

Knowing the pandemic situation, I would like to suggest the university revise the structure of the syllabus for the engineering students admitted in the academic year 2020-21 and for the coming academic year as well. The syllabus must be revised in such a way that students should be able to get placements. Effective conduction of theory and practical examination in online mode, its time management must be planned properly. Suggestions with respect to syllabus revision, new subjects to be added and their content, has been an integral part of my profession for a long.