Feature

Teaching and Learning at BRAC University
An eye opening training for the teachers

Golam Kibria

"THOSE who do not answer the teacher quickly may be slow thinkers. Don't think that they are not smart or are stupid. Usually the slow thinkers are back benchers. But don't underestimate them; they may more potential then the fast thinkers, i.e. the first benchers, who respond the teachers right away.'

This is one of the most important lessons I learnt in the three-day training workshop organized by BRAC University (BRACU). The training held at BRACU Savar Campus was an eye opener for me. After receiving the training, I have started looking at the students from a different viewpoint. And I am sure about that, the other twenty participants of that training will not disagree with me.

The training on Teaching and learning at BRAC University was held on 2-4 January this year, organized for the newly recruited faculty members of the university to expose and sensitize them about the values and the morals of BRACU. The other intention of the training was to make the faculty members more capable in creating and enabling a learning environment for the students in their classes.

Professor Dr. Md. Golam Samdni Fakir, Pro VC of the University, was telling us, 'when we were thinking of starting a private university in the country, the first thing came to our mind was how can it be different from other universities, because sixteen other private universities were in operation at that time. How could we add more values to our students? Focusing on this issue, BRACU introduced a full residential semester (RS) for all students. All of the students need to spend their second semester at Savar Campus. This RS in BRACU is now known as flagship of the university'.

'Through this semester students get the opportunity to know more about Bangladesh, exposed with ethical values and strengthen their proficiency in English both in speaking and writing' he added. Dr. Samdani explained the lodges of the campus are tin-shaded so that the students can feel the nature and get a bit of experience of villager's life.

'But Sir, here we also have experienced how the people in village face the winter.' I responded.

No need to explain more but give you the information, we experienced the cold wave in a remote village of Savar, Khagan; and on top of that we had to spend three cold nights of this winter in a tin-shaded building.

But the cold was badly beaten by the warm relationship between the trainers and the trainees. Dr. Samdani made the discussion more enlightening in regular intervals during his lecture with his great sense of humor which made the class lively and more interactive. He also explained how to establish and maintain the synergy between BRAC and BRACU; how the university can get maximum advantage from its mother organization, BRAC, one of the leading NGOs of the world.

In addition to Dr. Samdani, we were fortunate to have Beth Trudell and Farida Akhter as facilitators. Farida facilitated sessions on students psychology. She tried to explain why students behave differently in the class. While, Beth Trudell focused on the creativity in teaching and various tools and techniques of facilitating learning in classes. The Registrar of the University Ishfaq Ilahi Chowdhury and the Campus Superintended Md. Mahfuzul Bari Chowdhury delivered lecture on 'Professional Guidelines for BRAC University' and on the 'Residential Semester' respectively.

The training taught us to how to value the students, to appreciate them and to think in a way that every individual has some limitations, but they have potentials and strengths as well. It is duty of a teacher to find out the talents and to address the difficulties and problems of the students. One of the participants, Sabrina commented that the students should know how much the university is concerned about them and how the teachers of the BRACU are working hard to provide them with quality education.

Besides the training; we had lots of fun like barbecue and enjoyed the songs of Tagore by Abdullah Al Mamun of Journalism Training and Research Initiative (JATRI), part of Institute of Governance Studies (IGS) of BRACU. He performed a number of songs in open air; we enjoyed the melodious music centering the camp fire which helped us fight the cold. All together it was a very unusual experience for almost all of us, especially for those who were born and raised in a city.