Collaborative learning includes peer learning, academic interactions with seniors, and out-of-theclassroom discussions with professors. It is an integral part of the IIT education system and plays a significant role in developing one’s academic calibre. Moreover, it also helps in building better relationships among the community. However, the lack of collaborative learning in the online mode in comparison with the offline mode has affected academic interactions, thereby hampering the learning process. How can student leaders ensure that collaborative learning is extended to an online semester? What steps can the student leaders take to make online collaborative learning more effective and fruitful?

Competitions are conventional ways of involving students in activities where they can develop their skills, showcase their talents, and challenge themselves to perform better. They certainly have learning outcomes, but occasionally end up creating malignity in the minds of several individuals. The existing ways of student involvement are largely competition driven, and seldom foster learning via mutual development. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that competitions should not compromise the moral values of the students, by inducing an ill feeling for other individuals. What can student leaders do to promote the idea of collective growth along with individual growth within the student community? How can we create an environment of healthy competitions in all student activities including academics, internships or placements?

Sexism is defined as prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on a person’s sex, be it male or female. Casual Sexism often arises and is given impetus due to our inability to manage our ‘unconscious biases’. We all have these biases based on our personal and social experiences. It prevails in IITs too as a consequence of actions done deliberately, thoughtlessly, or humorously. It affects mental health, decreases self-confidence, and negatively impacts one’s performance in work. One of the major reasons behind casual sexism is the lack of awareness regarding its ill-effects. Identifying them on a cue can help us manage them, and therefore improve our interpersonal relations at a micro level and promote a safe environment at a macro level.What can student leaders do to make the community aware of the adverse effects of ‘casual sexism’ and overcome it?

Innovation involves critical thinking, interpreting and implementing creative ideas. It can range from enhancing the value of an existing solution to creating a novel technology. An innovative mindset supplements a student’s overall growth and is highly valued in a workplace.Inclination towards scoring high grades may sideline exploring unconventional paths. Innovation is often hard to teach in a traditional classroom setting because it is unpredictable, requires learning by doing, and stems from practice. What steps can student leaders take to foster conceptual learning? How can student leaders promote critical and creative thinking, and encourage the habit of coming up with out of the box solutions among students? How can student leaders create a culture of innovation among students?

“An organisation’s alumni are the reflection of its past, representation of its present and a link to its future.” Building a strong student-alumni relationship is highly beneficial for the students. The alumni of an institute contribute by mentoring students in their areas of experience, be it higher education, entrepreneurship, placements, or any other professional domain. The pre-existing methods of interactions are usually limited to familiarising students with the institution and fostering relations with the alumni. Although some students reach out to the alumni individually, there is a need to introduce a more efficient approach to enhance the student-alumni relationship. How can student leaders introduce a more effective way to develop a robust and deep-rooted studentalumni network? What steps can student leaders take to enhance the engagement of alumni in a student’s future prospects?

A. Etiquettes/Skills in a Professional Environment - The IITs house some of the most brilliant minds of our country. However, according to the feedback from some hiring firms, they lack professional skills. These skills include students to be well-groomed, write clearly and have a proper business meeting etiquette. This is crucial for them to thrive in various workspaces, be it industry or academia at both national and international levels. What can student leaders do beyond organizing workshops and seminars to address these specific problems? How can we make the students realize the importance of such professional skills? B. Etiquettes/Skills in a Shared Living Space - IIT students live in a shared living space. There are several skills and etiquettes that they must inculcate to ensure a respectful coexistence. Some of these include keeping the toilets clean, not wasting food, respecting others’ personal space, being aware of first aid knowledge, etc. How can student leaders help in inculcating these skills and etiquettes among students without being “preachy”?

Our experience says that there is scope beyond the existing platforms of providing students with a better understanding of work culture, student life, etc. of peers from different IITs. This would help them to explore, engage, and learn on both academic and non-academic fronts. We intended to brainstorm ideas wherein students from different IITs would collaborate either physically or digitally. What can student leaders do to promote more significant collaborations/ better relationships among students with similar interests on a student-level? How can we ensure that the potential benefits for students from these collaborations are maximized?

Hands-on learning helps students appreciate the utility of the concepts taught in the class. Moreover, it enhances the students’ ability to apply their theoretical knowledge to real-world problems. The courses, at present, have elements like labs and projects to provide the students with an opportunity for hands-on learning. However, it has been observed that sometimes the students do not completely realize the importance of these opportunities. What can student leaders do to make students appreciate the already existing elements for hands-on learning? What other initiatives can student leaders take to promote hands-on learning in courses?What can student leaders do to help create an environment so that students involve themselves in hands-on learning?

The curriculum of an IIT incorporates courses from a wide range of domains. These include courses that are not directly linked to one's department/discipline. These courses are instrumental for the students in a variety of ways. They are crucial in improving their skills, exploring different subjects and bridging the gap between various fields. However, we have observed that some students fail to recognize the objective behind the inclusion of such courses in the curriculum and therefore portray a lack of interest in the same. What initiatives can the student leaders take to promote the importance of these courses among students?

Community service is all about stepping up, lending a hand and working together for the benefit of others. By volunteering in community service initiatives, students shoulder responsibility on a larger scale and they become socially aware. They are exposed to new challenges, gain necessary experience and this indeed, moulds them into better individuals. How can more members from the student community be encouraged to volunteer in these activities? In what way can we merge social responsibility into being a part of the mainstream college life?

Academic integrity is ensuring that the work you turn in is your own. The trust this builds is critical to teamwork, leadership and collaborative learning. However academic dishonesty is still an issue plaguing academic institutions in India. The most common excuse (other than claiming lack of awareness) is the justification that the act is a one time event due to extraordinary circumstances. How do we create an environment within our institutions wherein even a case of minor dishonesty is perceived as a grave offense? How can we encourage the student community to be conscient regarding passing off others’ work as their own? What can student leaders do to make the community realize the importance of academic integrity and adhere to it as second nature? How do we encourage students to report any instances of academic dishonesty?

Research is an activity that involves exploring and proposing new knowledge, facts, methods, conclusions or discoveries, or implementing existing knowledge to solve new problems. Students entering their first year in an IIT are habituated to rote learning. Exposure to research at an undergraduate level helps students acquire skills such as critical thinking, an independent approach to problem-solving, and perseverance. Moreover, at an undergraduate level, students can freely explore cutting-edge topics related to their diverse areas of interest, which they might not have the opportunity to do later. Most undergraduate students feel research projects are only beneficial for those who want to pursue graduate studies. There is a need to change this perception. We would like to explore ways to promote research at an undergraduate level. How can we make our respective student communities and faculty members aware of the importance of undergraduate research?

Emotional, psychological, and social well-being of all students is extremely important for their health, academic progress, and holistic growth. Students who face issues related to their well-being have the opportunity to avail on-campus counselling services to help them deal with and overcome these problems. However, due to various reasons - such as the fear of being perceived as ‘psychologically weak’ or ‘emotionally unstable’ - many students do not avail them until their problems compound and they reach a critical state of mental health. What steps can the student community take to help students address problems related to their well-being before these problems become too serious? Can workshops and group therapy be introduced at a community-managed level to address important issues such as academic stress, procrastination, time management, healthy sleep, addiction, social confidence, and fending off peer and parental pressure? How can we structure these programs? How can we integrate them with counselling services? What steps can student leaders take to dispel any stigma associated with availing these programs and counselling services?

IITs host students from all over the country. Often, freshers tend to form a group based on the vernacular languages they speak. These groups formed on linguistic lines often tend to deepen, leading to various problems. Students may miss out on the opportunity to appreciate and learn from a diverse peer group.
• What can student leaders do to overcome language barriers within the student body? Can specific events be organized that motivate students to learn about different languages, their origins, and cultures? What could these be?
• How can student mentors promote greater cross-lingual fresher interactions?
• Should freshers be made to step out of their comfort zone by forcing them to work in diverse groups?

As foremost institutes of national importance, IITs have a social responsibility of guiding consumption patterns for the collective benefit of society. One significant component of this within IIT campuses is the sale of food to students, especially near student residences. Such eateries cater to the diverse needs of students which messes cannot fulfill, from daily cravings to celebratory treats for special occasions. Hence they greatly influence activities within campuses.
What factors should IITs scrutinise when deciding on renting spaces to eateries? Although the control on eateries may not lie with student leaders in many institutes at present, we shall discuss some common policies on this matter which IITs can arrive at in the near future. Arriving at these policies requires addressing numerous disagreements. For instance, while preferring local caterers over influential MNCs might be more beneficial to the local economy, student tastes may crave for the opposite. In this manner, we plan on discussing the following:
• Should allocation of eateries focus on the short-term savory satisfaction of students or on their long-term health and nourishment?
• Should IITs favor eateries of large MNC chains for their easier hygiene compliance and greater capabilities of satisfying savory needs? Or should we promote local caterers and sellers to support the local economies better?
• Should student leaders consider making students pay a small premium to subsidize respectable wages of workers in less organized eateries?
• Overlapping menus can lead to uneven competition between disparate entities. How can we prevent this without making eateries complacent with service?
• How can we normalize prices across all eateries in a campus to prevent segregation of students based on their ability to spend?
• Can colleges improve their monitoring systems to push less organized caterers and food sellers for maintaining better hygiene?

A. Our experience says that many students are not accustomed to the teaching style in IIT. We intend to explore ideas wherein senior students can help their juniors to have a smooth transition in their academics. Can we provide a forum to students for clearing doubts and also continuing discussion that require more leisure beyond the classroom hours?
B. Some skills of students can be immensely helpful to others. There are many things such as programming, graphics, data analysis etc. which can be effectively taught by students. We would like to brainstorm on how to create such opportunities for additional learning, what mechanisms might be helpful in identifying suitable teachers and making such learning opportunities fruitful and engaging.
C. We need our students to be sufficiently proficient in English to understand what they are being taught in classrooms. Through peer-assisted learning, we look to encourage students to improve their English through their interactions with seniors. To realise this, we are seeking inputs on developing more programs and resources to enhance such peer learning opportunities. How can we choose these senior students?
D. There will always be a role for lectures, books and exams in college. But there’s a limit to what can be learned inside a classroom. We should do our students a favor and give them freedom to enjoy the vast educational resources that lie just outside the door. IITians shouldn’t just enjoy thinking, they should also enjoy doing. Whether it’s being really into tinkering, or being good at CAD work or getting a bliss on doing 3D printing and metal work, we want students to be hands-on creative. What can student leadership do to promote such activities and culture in general?

A. In workplaces today, soft skills are as important as technical expertise. Developing these skills is more challenging and requires persistent and committed efforts. Do personal development courses and networking with people both inside and outside an organisation help build soft skills?
B. Reading is one of those understated skills that is used all the time at the workplace but is upstaged by more high-profile skills such as ‘quantitative ability’, ‘critical thinking’ and ‘soft skills’. Also, in the present time, value of the libraries is getting down while encyclopedias are virtually extinct. Libraries certainly help in improving reading skills and increasing concentration. Irrespective of institute policies, the student leadership can become proactive to promote the use of libraries and acquiring reading skills. What can those steps be?
Can any collaborative effort from all IITs work towards this goal to prepare future IITians for them stand out in the workplace? How can we ensure that students take maximum benefit from these trainings?

Collaborative learning provides a much better outcome than any competition. To realise this, we support hobby groups to offer different perspectives on topics (as diverse as foundries to cryptography). Any student who wishes to explore the topic is welcome to join these groups irrespective of their level of proficiency. A group thus initiated can only be sustained when its members are ready to dedicate efforts towards it. We have realised that it is difficult for all members to meet frequently due to various commitments. We would like you to suggest ways in which such groups can be made visible to those people who may be interested. What are the incentives that have worked for similar initiatives and how can we hold members accountable despite it being voluntary?

The Student Academic Conference can provide an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students from any disciplines to present their research in a professional academic setting. Student Research refers to any scholarly or creative activity ranging from scientific experimentation, service-learning, and literary criticism, to case-study design, and artistic expression. In this unique venue, students will be able to see how their work compares with that of their peers, get feedback on their work and presentation skills, and learn the intricacies of professional presentation in their particular fields. We invite suggestions and ideas on how best we can plan and execute it.