education, Design Research
Avantika University Curriculum
Avantika University has an innovative and contextual academic structure. A curriculum that is driven by design thinking. The curriculum is not just limited to the field of design, but spreads out to all domains where creation, innovation and problem solving are a must. A deep understanding of the context and the fields was done. After a number of trials, validation and feedback, the team created a curriculum that allows students to create their own specialisation. A specialisation that is not institute-driven but industry, need and choice-dependent. It breaks the boundaries of the stereotypical education system in design and engineering.
It is a model that inculcates personalized learning to make students discover themselves by becoming innovators and problem solvers and more importantly, become sound decision makers.
Design-Centric Learning at Avantika
Design, at Avantika, is an active verb and not a passive noun. This spirit is embedded across all the programs at Avantika.
Design centric learning at Avantika starts with engaging learners to confront challenges. The learners will solve these challenges through analysis, reflection, ideation, synthesis, prototyping, and testing the impact.
As the academic program progresses, these challenges increase in scale, complexity, and ambiguity. Learners invest energy, time, and effort in these tasks. This approach leads them to ask questions and seek answers by reflection, collaboration, and interaction. The faculty members act as facilitators and collaborators in this endeavor. Learning at Avantika is ‘just-in-time’ and not ‘just-in-case’.
Feedback from Different Stakeholders
Academic Board
BOS
Faculty
Industry Experts
Students
Educationist
Academic structure for the bachelors program at Avantika University
Board Meetings and Reviews
“Excellence is not an objective; it is a way of life at Avantika.”
Innovation
Breaking the boundaries of the existing education system is paramount. There is a definite void in the pedagogy, in the format of teaching and learning, in the way Design and Engineering is broken down into further departments.
With diverse disciplines, experiences, and approaches, the learners will have an opportunity to create and structure their personal learning pathway based on their interests, motivation, and passion.
The need of the hour
We, at Avantika, aim to change the system by not catering to the wants of society, in general, but rather, cater to the needs of society. Our aim is to understand the future needs of the country and devise a method to ensure that the coming generations are ready to address those needs.
Design Your Specialisation
Each individual is different. A person has different choices, different behaviours, different approaches and different DNA. Then why should everyone have the same curriculum? We came up with a system of ‘Designing your own specialisation’. A method where students, themselves, can mix and match based on what they want to do. The choices still have a fundamental logic and interesting combinations to go with them. Each 'Track' comes with its own set of courses. The students have to make their own set based on their interest and develop a never-happened combination in the country.
Industry Speaks
The Learning Ecosystem at Avantika
Project Based learning
Project based learning involves identifying a real-world problem or a hypothetical problem for the future, and solving the same over a certain period of time. Students learn through doing, exploring, failing, redoing, testing, and validating. Through this approach, learners are intrinsically motivated and responsible to acquire deeper and sustainable knowledge. Learning at Avantika takes place Just-in-Time and not Just-in-Case. It also brings joy of networking with potential users and addresses their real or anticipated needs.
Learning through Collaboration
There is no lone creative genius, and good ideas can be sparked by students’ interactions with diverse people, organizations, and societies. Learners from diverse fields will collaborate on projects and challenges. We will have ‘Collaboratories’ to stimulate collaboration and teaming. These partnerships will not just happen between students, but will also see the participation of mentors as co-learners.
"Edison was no lone inventor, but rather he compiled a team of engineers, machinists, and physicists who worked together on many of the inventions we now attribute to Edison alone".
'How' to Think and NOT 'What' to Think
We will engage the minds of learners, utilize their unawareness to ask questions, and ignite curiosity to gain information and develop understanding. Learners will be expected to become self-motivated curiosity machines. When students learn to question relentlessly and without fear, they are able to explore ways to make new connections and develop a sense of adaptability.
'What to think' - ask the learners to work out a problem based on the Pythagoras theorem.
'How to think' - ask the learners to assume that they don't know about Pythagoras theorem and have them derive it right from a scratch. Of course, the latter will be more challenging for learners as their failure rate will be high. Nonetheless, this experiment is more meaningful and rewarding as it prepares learners and mentors to solve unsolved problems on a larger scale.
Social Learning
Learning happens through meeting and interacting with people. We learn to empathize with them and address their problems, needs, and concerns. The students will work on issues of social concerns for innovative solutions.
Designing the Curriculum of Avantika has been a full fledged design of a system. A lot of research, need identification, critical analysis of information from learners, experts and other stakeholder by connecting dots and application of past experiences has gone into the design of this system.
To ensure proper implementation and to understand the philosophy of Avantika thoroughly, the following course of action was planned and executed.
Intensive 4 day workshop for all faculty
Followed by a take-home workbook
A manifesto was created to ensure that the faculty understands the kind of projects that can be implemented in the institute
Manifesto
A manifesto. . .
Cover Illustration by AmirKhan Pathan
Co-Team Members: Dr. Prasheel Suryawanshi, Dr. Sanjay Dhande, Prof. Sanjay Jain