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?

• Difficult to sustain interactions between seniors and juniors. This could be because of introvertedness of juniors across institutes.
• Most sessions suffer from poor turnout when they’re oriented towards learning. Exam-oriented sessions, however, attract large numbers.
• Programmes across institutes require mentors to hold a minimum grade for the courses they’re interested in mentoring. Mentors could also be chosen on the basis of trial sessions which can bring out their flair for teaching.
• In many places, such mentorship has increased interactions between seniors and juniors. Students have appreciated this widely.
• Some institutes are presently suffering from a shortage of senior students interested in mentorship. To incentivise them, they can be offered certificates.
• Sharing reading materials and notes has helped students cope up smoothly. Learning oriented peer tuitions can be arranged keeping in mind that no spoon-feeding is encouraged. Mentor meetings and periodic feedback regarding the sessions, when collected and shared with the faculty could improve the effectiveness.
• A reward and recognition based system has encouraged students to apply as mentors and actively participate in the initiatives.
• Peer learning encourages questioning and works best in an informal setting.
• Initiatives that have worked in different IITs:
      1. Tutorial Service Center, IIT Bombay
      2. Department Academic Mentorship Programme, IIT Bombay
      3. Explaining Concepts and Lectures, IIT Bombay
      4. Synergize, IIT Bombay
      5. AVANA, IIT Indore
      6. Academic Discussion Hours, IIT Gandhinagar

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.

• Though we have discussed several initiatives, the question posed remained unanswered.
• Conducting non-credit courses or similar initiatives by students is not convenient across institutes because of difficulties in scaling them up. They require a large number of volunteers, who can be attracted by monetary incentives.
• For longer courses, students can be asked to make security deposits of reasonable amounts which will be refunded based on an attendance criterion. This can prevent students from dropping out.
• Such initiatives can also build up a sense of ownership among students conducting them. It can personally help them develop responsibility towards the purpose of helping students learn more.
• Clubs can conduct hands-on sessions for freshmen. For example, the Supra team at IIT Mandi introduces students to the components of a racing car and how each part works. Interested students then join clusters that work on an area which interests them.
• Students can take the initiative to teach courses on a variety of topics. For this, they can float forms to gauge interest.
• Conducting a competition at the end of a workshop encourages students to read up additional material.
• Focusing on adding value to online resources caters to different proficiency levels and pace. Students can be split into three groups based on their proficiency: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Discussions across these groups and competitions can help novices build from the experiences of the other groups.
• Documentation of B.Tech Projects may involve detailed description of the skills acquired and used in the projects.
• Initiatives that have worked in different IITs:
      1. Bootcamps, IIT Bombay
      2. External Affairs Cell, IIT Kharagpur
      3. 20 days session in winters, IIT Kharagpur
      4. Student-run courses, IIT Gandhinagar

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?

• The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) is conducted in several languages, but after coming to IIT, students are forced to study in English.
• Various initiatives have worked in several IITs. For example, IIT Jammu has a “Learn to Speak” initiative in which they encourage students to speak on various issues such as Demonitization, GST etc. IIT Kharagpur has an English Lab. They ask students to speak on movies and TV series. There is a programme called Peer-assisted Learning (PAL) at IIT Gandhinagar which works on similar lines.
• Communique at IIT Kharagpur holds informal student sessions which aim at helping in preparation of GRE, TOEFL and internships.
• The tests for English can analyze grammar, writing and listening skills through aural comprehension.
• Support from external associations like British Council maybe useful introductory English courses if they can be subsidised.

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?

• In order to promote tinkering, students first need hassle-free access to tools, equipment and materials. Students at different institutions have different means to access these facilities. For example, IIT Bombay has a 24x7-open Tinkerer’s laboratory. Some IITs have equipment available at clubs, while in others, students can access equipment and machinery in labs. IIT Guwahati has technical rooms in hostels.
• Rewards for completion of projects can promote the culture of hands-on learning in the community.
• Providing special access to labs and equipment can create a conducive environment for the technical community.
• However, when labs and equipment are available for use by the community round the clock, safety is a concern. Students can get injured when they operate heavy machinery without guidance/ supervision. Training programmes for freshmen in operation of machinery/tools during orientation programmes, and having technicians available 24x7 for support can help alleviate this problem.
• The first and the second generation IITs can provide their facilities to the technical teams from the third generation IITs where the infrastructure has not been setup yet.
• A work area, like the Tinkerer’s Lab (TL) at IIT Bombay, should be set-up under the technical club with some advanced tools and machinery. Conducting events like ‘How Things Work?’ or ‘Tinkering Lab - Talks’ periodically will encourage students to utilise the facility. To ensure optimal utilization of facilities like TL, simpler projects can go to TL, and more complex projects can go to labs.
• Encouraging first year students to take up a technical project in the summer vacation can go a long way in promoting a culture of ‘doing’ early on. Technical Councils or Clubs in institutes can float projects and host these under initiatives like the Tinkering Lab (‘TL-Open Projects’ in IIT Bombay is an example).
• To encourage hands-on learning, clubs can have demonstrations of their projects in their introductory session.
• Hobby groups can initially target competitions; if they sustain for at least two years and show consistent improvement, they may apply to become a club. Clubs can fund hobby groups under the technical council.
• Blacklisting students for gross negligence and misuse of lab equipment builds a sense of shared ownership and minimizes maintenance downtime.
• Fix the number of projects in a term - this will prevent the overuse of equipment. Stress on the quality and not the number of projects that come out of these initiatives. Approved projects can be queued until a slot opens up for them.
• A group of students can float project ideas on a virtual workspace (like Slack) and invite contributors.
• For competitions, a different approach to year-long and month-long competitions helps. Initially faculty can mentor projects for some time, and when things begin to run smoothly, teams can start to work independently.
• The interaction between undergraduates and postgraduates helps prepare for competitions.
• When teams evolve their source of funding can be changed and from Gymkhana to R&D, this can be decided by certain committee and if needed they can also scrap the project.
• Courses that make students think out the box, such as the first-year course on Reverse Engineering in the first year, which requires them to dismantle an instrument and study its components, helps build engineering aptitude.

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? 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?

• There is a common consensus that soft skills are essential to thrive in the world today. Unfortunately, this realisation often comes to students late into their stay in college. To alleviate this, students can collaborate with their placement or career development cells of their institutes.
• When defining soft skills, we came to decide that at the least they must include:
      1. Confident public speaking
      2. Delivering presentations
      3. Formulating arguments
      4. Imbibing work ethics
      5. Writing skills for different requirements
• To improve public speaking, student leadership can arrange for interactions across batches. Over here, juniors can be asked to talk on specific topics. These interactions need to be within suitable boundaries. Hence they must be mandated from some institute authority as well. Open mics might not suit this purpose since they allow good public speakers to inadvertently intimidate those in need.
• Several institutes host coaching groups such as TIME for conduct workshops. This is mainly for the purpose of preparing for exams such as GRE or CAT.
• To improve basic speaking and writing skills, some institutes also host dedicated language cells. They conduct mentorship sessions of students who’ve received scholarships requiring well-written applications.
• One major challenge common to almost all institutes, however, is the difficulty in making students realise their limited soft skills. Comprehensive solutions to this are difficult to find.
• In some institutes, Directors take initiatives to share reading lists with students. Those who can come up with the best summaries to any of the books in them receive recognition.

The Student Academic Conference (SAC) 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.

• Several initiatives have worked in various IITs to promote UG research. For example, Undergraduate
• Research Awards in IIT Bombay.
• A platform can be provided to give an incentive to try research. Presenting a research paper should not be made necessary. This can be merged into Inter - IIT Technical Meet.
      Support - There won’t be any problem for initial funding. It will be easy to plan logistics.
      Challenge - It will be impossible for everyone to attend the conference due to the tight schedule of Inter IIT Tech meet.
• SAC can be initiated as a separate event.
• Resolution - Must be worked upon immediately. Since IIT Bombay will be organising Inter - IIT Tech Meet, the same may take the lead in kicking off this novel initiative. It is, however, not necessary to perceive and plan it as an event within Inter-IIT Tech Meet.

Students that participated in the conclave