Sreeparna Sengupta and Swanand Phadke interviewed our very dear Pradnya Ma’am.
Here are some insights which she shared with us in this wonderful conversation!
Sreeparna: Ma’am please tell us something about yourself.
Ma’am: I have 15 years of experience in teaching in the IT domain. That includes training at the Post-Graduation as well as Corporate levels. I was associated with Pune University, teaching at the post graduate level and after that I have been associated with SCIT from 2004 till the present day.
Swanand: Ma’am would you like to share something about your academics?
Ma’am: : I have completed my Graduation in 1994 and completed my Post Graduation with Distinction thereafter. I was always an academically inclined person. Hence I went on to enhance my knowledge in the rapidly changing IT industry by undertaking certifications in the then newer technology domains like Oracle, Visual Basic, Dot Net etc. Also my interest for academics landed me into an academic career after spending some time in the corporate training world. Currently, I am pursuing my PhD in the area of software project risk management, at SIU and my research guide is Dr. Prasenjit Sen Sir.
Swanand: Ma’am you said you have experience in both the corporate training as well as in Academic Training. Which of these seemed more interesting to you?
Ma’am: I think it is academic education & training that seems more interesting to me. I think it is more demanding to cater as a faculty at the post graduate level. At the corporate level a faculty is more oriented towards delivering the content, but at the post graduation level, faculty has to deal with a wide educational diversity of students who are demanding in terms of industry relevant knowledge and hence we have to continually update knowledge with the latest trends in IT industry. Hence, teaching at PG level requires research in relevant areas of IT Industry and hence learning phase never ends.
Sreeparna: Ma’am how has been your experience teaching the students at SCIT? Have you noticed any transition among students over the years?
Ma’am: It has been a wonderful experience teaching students at SCIT over the years. The transition has been from Technology to a Techno-Managerial orientation among students. Also the students have been very receptive in learning the subjects. I also like the fact that they always seek to learn new things from us. So we also have to remain updated as much as possible so as to address all their queries. I quite like the feedback mechanism that we have here. So we also get chance to adapt ourselves to the students’ changing expectations from the course as well as the faculty.
Sreeparna: Ma’am, would you like to share any incident that stood out of the rest in your journey at SCIT?
Ma’am: There are many such happy memories. But yes I am really fond of memories whenever any student who has joined the industry comes back and tells me that they could apply what they learnt in the classes into their jobs. This gives us a good pointer of the courses we are teaching here and also provides scope for improvisations that can be made for the courses.
Swanand: Ma’am please share something about your personal life and yourself as a person.
Ma’am: I was born and brought up in Pune. My family includes my daughter who is currently pursuing her studies and my husband has a structural engineering consultancy. He has been a motivator throughout my career and he is truly my support system.
Swanand: Ma’am , any thoughts about our magazine ? Any advice you want to share for Reflections?
Ma’am: I really like Reflections very much. It is an excellent magazine and the design and content are all very innovative and creative. Also the ease of reaching to people is appreciable. I think it should contain some technical content as well. Also you can encourage us to write something, like not only the faculty but the staff as well. If they could express their views about the students or about anything, it would be great.
Sreeparna: Ma’am please tell us anything that you enjoy doing in your leisure time.
Ma’am: I really love reading books, especially the one on self improvement.
Swanand: Ma’am any specific book that you liked very much
Ma’am: I liked ‘The Alchemist’ very much. It’s very wonderful book to read.
Sreeparna: Ma’am. Now it’s time for a Rapid Fire now.
Ma’am: Okay. Go Ahead.
Swanand: Ma’am, One word or one line that comes to your mind about the 2013-2015 batch and the current batch.
Ma’am: 2013-2015 batch- Independent
2014-2016 batch- Takes a lot of interest in all the activities.
Sreeparna: Ma’am any cause or issue that really touches you .
Ma’am: Extreme Poverty.
Sreeparna: Ma’am describe yourself in one word.
Ma’am: Conscientious.
Swanand: Ma’am anything else you would like to share with us.
Ma’am : I would really take this opportunity to say that the SCIT, Director Prof. Dr. Dhanya Pramod’s leadership at SCIT has been very inspiring and motivating for all of us in improvising the teaching methodologies, research etc at SCIT. When I joined at 2004, we were guided effectively as SCIT team members by the then Director, Ms. Shaila Kagal in academics, research, and academics related activities.
The students at SCIT have been intellectual and have always been professional in their conduct, and exhibit leadership traits much required by the IT Industry. Overall, I would like to say that all the Students, Staff and Faculty at SCIT work as a team to take SCIT forward.
– Sreeparna , Swanand
