New Delhi: With the student population becoming increasingly diverse, teacher education programs need to enable prospective teachers to meet the varied needs and expectations of students, while simultaneously evolving to create a holistic learning environment with best teaching practices.

Keeping this in mind, Chitkara College of Education organized an International Seminar on the theme ‘Sharing Best Practices in Teaching’ at Chitkara University, Punjab campus. The Seminar witnessed participation of more than 150 educationalists and prospective teachers, including over 30 foreign faculty, from three universities from different parts of the world – Macquarie University, Australia; Vancouver Island University, Canada; and Chitkara University, India; who had come forward to share their ‘best teaching practices’ with each other. The International Seminar was an apt example of learning beyond global boundaries, while incorporating international exchange and intercultural learning of ideas and perceptions into teacher training.

The objective of the Seminar was to present an assortment while sharing the best practices that have evolved during classroom teaching over the years at each university – with special focus on innovation, creativity, critical thinking and exploring new ideas for engaging learners, as the key interest of the discussions. Every teacher present at the seminar agreed that in education it is important to observe the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to learn and progress in their education. Thus, in order to create a holistic learning environment for their students they need to put in conscious efforts for exploring new strategies, methods and teaching-learning aids. Innovative teaching practices like Student Directed Learning, Inquiry Based Learning, Collaborative Learning, Daily Teaching Nib, Innovative Teachers’ Excel Sheet, Reflective Practices, Higher Order Thinking, among others, were shared and discussed among the participants.

The foreign delegates and representatives from participating Universities were thrilled to have been provided the opportunity to share their respective best teaching practices with other educational experts. Surely, all involved were able to discover new theoretical and practical understandings to further advance knowledge for exceptional teaching practices and the best outcomes for all children.

Thanking the representatives and participants from Macquarie University, Australia & Vancouver Island University, Canada for their active participation in the seminar, Hon’ble Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University said, “Chitkara University constantly aspires to promote collaborative excellence between International academicians and their Indian counterparts, when it comes to teaching excellence. The International Seminar has justified the ‘learn global, teach local’ concept in its true sense with this enriching knowledge-sharing session, which provided an assortment of best teaching practices. We have all absorbed a whole lot of fresh perspectives, innovative ideas and excellent techniques, and look forward to implementing these in our classrooms.