Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS
Education
Scope of experiential learning during the Covid-19 pandemic
Excerpts from article by India Today Web Desk
An example of experiential learning – a student is holding a handful of lettuce in her hand, facing the zoom screen while sharing her experience of growing the lettuce in her kitchen garden with her classmates. This is part of an ongoing project on food and farming that the entire class has been working on. They have spent several sessions with experts who have shared the know-how about farming. Few students have even gone ahead to grow microgreens and explore hydroponics in their balconies. This is an instance of active learning.
Simply explained, experiential learning happens through carefully chosen experiences supported by reflection, critical analysis, and synthesis.
It emphasizes that mastering a new skill or gaining expertise is a continuous process and follows a learning cycle.
The very nature of experiential learning, with its roots in the sights, smell, textures, complexities, and contradiction of the real world, seems to go against teaching and learning in a virtual setting.
So, one might wonder whether experiential learning is a viable option for virtual instruction?
How to make it work?
To make experiential learning work in online classes, educators have to go back to the basics while designing the lessons, drawing from the rich social and environmental fabric that each of our students is a part of, and decided to use the home, the family, and the neighbourhood to create relevance.
The focus should be on developing critical skills like literacy, numeracy, problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, perseverance, social engagement, and mastery of the subject.
Designing learning experiences
When it came to designing learning experiences, homebound or neighbourhood related projects are a good option. These focus on what is available to students in their immediate surrounding. For example, a unit on maps was done by asking students to create 3-dimensional models of their rooms and houses.
Remaining authentic to the tenets of Project-Based Learning or Expeditionary learning, some educators took up a history project where students analysed family heirloom or artefacts!
What to do for younger students?
For younger students, special kits with parent-facing instructional guides can be sent them home to continue the learning experience uninterrupted. Personalised learning sessions where students work on strengthening their academic skills and advance in their interest areas in a small group with the teachers have become more practical in the virtual setting.
Another way of providing a simulation of concrete experiences is by using design thinking challenges. Through a carefully crafted design challenge or question, students can be engaged with the process of design thinking i.e. building empathy, defining the problem, designing a prototype, and ideating solutions.
Feedback and reflection are critical
Following a simulated experience, reflective exercises can be initiated through the use of questions. Padlet, Jamboard, Kahoot, Quizlet, Mentimeter are some examples of Ed-tech tools which may be used for gathering learner responses.
Learning management systems allow teachers to plan formative and summative assessments and interact with students asynchronously.
The possibilities are immense. Online learning can be made rigorous and fun. At the heart of experiential and project-based learning, albeit virtually, lies three key elements – the essential multidisciplinary question, the well-crafted learning experience, and reflection to synthesize the learning.
Career
What are the different types of sports jobs in India?
Excerpts from article by Md Imtiaz published in thebridge.in
Sports today does offer a plethora of career opportunities. Other than actually being an active sportsperson, the other vocations in the field like sports management, sports medicine, sports journalism, adventure sports, fitness and health clinics and the like, have come to be regarded as full-fledged and highly paid careers options.
The Indian sports Industry features over 50 types of job roles across multiple verticals. Outlined some popular jobs within sport and how to get into them:
1. Jobs in Sales
Sponsorship
Sport Sponsorship is a powerful and impactful marketing technique. It consists of the association between a company (sponsor) and a sport club or event (sponsee). A popular example is a brand logo printed in a team’s jersey. Visibility and media exposure are guaranteed. Companies rarely want to miss the opportunity to allocate a slice of their marketing budget in this area.
Media Rights
For most sports organisations, the sale of broadcasting and media rights is now the biggest source of revenue, generating the funds needed to finance major sporting events, refurbish stadiums, and contribute to the development of sport at grassroots level.
2. Jobs in Digital
Social Media Manager
The social media space is expanding, and people with specialized sports knowledge are needed to write articles and commentary on sports events. Some of your career options come with a sports management degree. A social media manager for a sports-oriented company can be rewarding, but also tricky. You may have your own opinions about certain teams, but you have to remember that you’re representing a company, so everything you post needs to stay on brand.
Content Writer
A sports content writer is someone who delivers engaging and informative news on sports to readers of blogs, websites, newspapers, or magazines. They may work directly for a publishing company or freelance and syndicate their stories to a variety of news outlets. Some sports writers specialize in coverage of one sport, such as basketball or football, while others cover all the news on athletic competition in their region.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing impacts the sporting industry. Major sporting events are a key driver of emergent communication technologies, and text marketing is no different. The 2012 London Olympics saw mobile advertising grow by 50%, as businesses recognised the enormous power of the spectacle as an attention-grabber that could attendees into phone numbers on lists.
3. Jobs in Marketing
Brand Manager
Sports brand managers develop marketing campaigns to engage fans and attract business sponsors. They support the revenue goals of sporting arenas, university sports teams, professional sports franchises, leagues, and other sports-related organisations. They also work at sports consulting agencies as advisors to organisations and athletes.
Public Relations
Sports public relations is promoting teams, individual players and sports organisations through earned media channels—including broadcast, print, radio, and online media outlets. Sports PR works to build and maximise an athlete’s image potential.
4. Jobs in Data and Analytics
Data Analyst
Sports analytics is a field that applies data analysis techniques to analyse various components of the sports industry, such as player performance, business performance, recruitment, and more. The learnings from these analyses are then used to make informed decisions that enhance the performance of a particular team or sports organisation.
Video Analyst
A sport video analyst monitors and records sporting performances for a team/ organisation. Further they liaise with coaches and athletes in training and competitive environments in order to ensure improvements in their performance. This may be done by identifying weaknesses amongst individuals i.e. technically or analysing the overall team tactics.
5. Jobs in Sports Goods and Apparel
Merchandiser
If you have a love for sports and a knack for business and sales, you can find career success in sports merchandising. The multi-billion dollar sports merchandising industry is focused on selling team or league jerseys, T-shirts, hats, sweatshirts and collectibles as well as exercise equipment, sports equipment and other items.
6. Jobs in Broadcast
Cameraman
Sports photographers and cameraman are specialists hired to shoot pictures and record videos of sporting events and athletes. They work for newspapers, tv channels, magazines, web sites, and photo stock agencies to bring photos of events of all sizes (from a Little League game to the Olympics) to the pages of periodicals, the Internet, or other publications.
Vision Mixer
The job of a vision mixer in sports is to operarate a video switcher, a machine that is used to take different sources of video and create a single output. It is most often used in live situations where video broadcasting or recording is being done, for examples in tv channels broadcating sports.
7. Jobs in Finance
Manager
In order for any sport organisation or enterprise to thrive, good financial practices must be followed. Those responsible for this crucial aspect of the industry are sometimes financial experts who move into sports, while others study sport management with a particular interest in its financial aspect. Sport financial management begins with determining what funds are available and how to allocate them.
Analyst
In the financial services industry, one of the most coveted careers is that of the analyst. The main role of a financial analyst is to pore over data to identify opportunities or evaluate outcomes for business decisions or investment recommendations.
8. Jobs in Sports Tech
Augmented Reality
In sports augmented reality, a developer builds an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) developer uses computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds.
9. Other options are…
- Jobs in E-sports
- Sports coach/sports instructor
- Sports development officer
- Sports lawyer
- Sports centre/gym manager
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)
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