WWS

The Walk with a Scholar programme (WWS) provides proper guidance and support to students through mentoring and training to define and achieve career goals. It is a programme, initiated by the Department of Higher Education of the Government of Kerala and provides special mentoring and training to students according to their career perspective. The mentoring scheme is planned to identify the opportunities available for the students, the areas suitable for them, the manner in which the student should proceed to achieve them, and to evolve ways by which they can be acquired.

The WWS programme is a novel and flagship initiative of the Department of Collegiate Education, Government of Kerala at M E S College Nedumkandam during 2014 – 15. Having recognized the fact that the best preparation for making a living comes through learning the arts of reading carefully, writing clearly and persuasively, reasoning quantitatively and analytically, evaluating evidence effectively, and thinking critically, the programme introduces the idea of mentoring. Mentoring is a personal enhancement strategy through which one person facilitates the development of another by sharing known resources, expertise, values, skills, perspectives, attitudes and proficiencies. It allow the learner to build skills and knowledge while attaining goals for career development.

In addition to the existing 30 mentees, immediately after the first year admissions, a notice was served in all the first semester under graduate classes and a personal interview has been done by the Principal for the selection of 30 more mentees.As much as 30 students from different disciplines were selected. The programme is envisaged to provide necessary orientation, guidance and motivation to the promising students so as to enrich and nourish their talents for higher studies and better employment. Its target is to develop certain generic skills, non-technical competencies, attitudes and behaviors that contribute to a person’s sense of self and personal well-being. The programme is designed in such a manner as to inculcate potential skills and capabilities of the aspirants to bridge the transitional gap between the academic curricula and the industry. It concentrates on object oriented and customized learning activities for the overall and sustainable development of the under graduate students. Sessions were arranged on Saturdays and evenings without affecting the normal academic routine of the students and the college.

The primary objective of the internal mentoring is envisaged to provide the aspirants some customized activities that enhance their learning experience and employability skills. As it requires some training built on the foundations of knowledge, internal mentoring aims at providing some opportunities to catch a meaningful life and better careers with a strong foundation of certain skills, attitudes and competencies. The pedagogy of the programme concentrates on active study techniques that require the students to think and reason for themselves. Sessions were arranged to open up avenues for achieving personal fulfillment, continued competitiveness, and growth that enable them to make practical judgments, to think on their feet, to act diligently and skillfully and to shape their attitudes to learn and enhance their decision making abilities. The better the aspirants can explain how and why their personal traits and attitudes, the more thorough will be their understanding and development. Keeping the frame, the following theme were selected for internal mentoring:

• Self assessment – strengths and weaknesses
• Positive thinking and capacity building
• Career Ambition – attitude and aptitude
• Personality and soft skill development
• Goal Setting : Self Esteem and Confidence
• Group Dynamics
• Learning Problems : cases and solutions
• Career prospects

Regarding external mentoring, first and second year mentees wereseparated and arranged the sessions. Persons with proven expertise in career guidance, soft skill development, communication skills and various competitive examination experts were selected as external mentors. The external mentoring was carried out in six different days with sessions of five hour duration for each external mentor. We believe that the instructors create relevant and active learning experiences, linking today’s education with tomorrows market place, students find learning more relevant, rewarding and practical. Individuals become skilled and knowledgeable by actively engaging their mind as they go through the process of activity and reflection. Keeping these objectives in mind, the major themes allotted to external mentors are :

• Soft Skill Development
• Communicative and Presentation Skills
• Group Dynamics
• Leadership and Interview skills
• Industry Exposure and Management Skills
• Guidance and Motivation for Higher studies
• Art of Success

All the mentors performed profoundly well and were highly beneficial and appreciated by the mentees. The mentees got an opportunity to gain wisdom from someone who had travelled the path before them. The sessions gave them not only the means but also tolead meaningful life.

Mr. K ABDUL RASAK
Associate Professor
Dept. of Computer Science