All the new faculty members were welcomed on the 1st day of the Induction Programme at St. Joseph's Evening College (Autonomous) by the Principal Dr. Albert Smith, the Director Fr. Arun Prashanth SJ, and the IQAC Coordinator Dr. Kanishka.

Fr. Arun introduced Fr. Sweebert SJ to the new faculty and Fr. Sweebert proceeded to provide an in-depth history of the Jesuits from the time of St. Ignatius of Loyola who formed the Society of Jesus. The Jesuit mindset is to have a purpose in educating people- the creation of a just society bereft of exploitative practices. The core values to be instilled into the students, as Fr. Sweebert reiterated, were: Competence, Compassion, Commitment and Conscience.

The next session was managed by Dr. Priya, the Vice Principal, St. Joseph's Evening College (Autonomous). She conducted a session drawing from her own personal experience as a Josephite student and member of the faculty. She elaborated on the importance of regularity and punctuality. She explained to the new faculty the examination pattern that the Institution practices. There was also an elaboration on how teachers as well as students are encouraged to pursue research and the importance of academic mentoring. The session was concluded by a video followed by suggestions from young faculty regarding better pedagogic practices.

The next session on professionalism was conducted by Prof. Gracelet Stanley. After an introduction by Dr. Kanishka, she began speaking about the meaning and implications of the term ‘profession’. She said that teaching was semi-professional. Her insistence on change and coping with modern times makes her a teacher accessible to students in all ways possible. Her key points were: Systematic Acquisition of Knowledge, Community Interest, Self Control and Rewards. She also spoke about the evolution of professionalism from an exclusive casteist patriarchal practice to an inclusive democratic and secular practice. A few requirements that she recognized were: appearance, maturity in interaction with faculty as well as students, collaboration with the Department, and appropriate behaviour with the primary stake holders, i.e. the parents.

With this we concluded the first day of the Induction Programme.

Day 2
The second day began with a prayer. Fr. Arun Prashanth SJ then addressed the new faculty members on the HR policies of St. Joseph's Evening College (Autonomous). Critical Thinking, Cultural Sensitivity, Social Justice are important to Josephite faculty. Father also elaborated on the Vision which is to create eminent and ethical leaders through quality education and the core values- faith in God and human beings, love for fellow beings, universal citizenship, moral integrity, and social commitment. He also spoke about the policies followed at SJEC- equal employment opportunities, admitting physically challenged people, and prevention of sexual harassment/misconduct.

The next session was conducted by the Principal Dr. Albert Smith on the Service Policies of the Institution. He gave a detailed description of the recruiting authorities of SJEC. He also elaborated on the steps that are followed in transparency when any steps need to be taken. He informed the new faculty members of the probation period, tenure period, etc. The working hours, perks such as PF, casual leave, summer salary and appraisal systems were also explained. Further he also informed the faculty about the resignation policies, code of conduct, dress code, faculty-student relationship and so on.

The next session was an activity based one, conducted by Ms. Aparna. She ensured that all the new faculty were active and on their feet. Through several exercises they were taught what team building entails. There were discussions on how to make the class more effective and so on.

The penultimate session was conducted by Mr. Diwakar, HOD, Department of English on Teaching and Learning Methods. The brisk session began by emphasizing on TBL: Task-based Learning which entails pre-task, task and post-task activities. He gave certain pointers to the new faculty such as knowing the names of the students. He spoke about the inductive method, deductive method, project method, problem solving method, lecture method, meta-cognitive method, demonstrative method, and audio-visual method. He applied a few of these in an activity with the faculty members in 5 minutes, thereby demonstrating the methods itself. He also spoke about some approaches for teaching such as teacher-centered, learner-centered, subject-mattered, teacher-dominated, interactive, direct, collaborative, constructive, and problem solving. He spoke about a few learning techniques like Learning through Gratification, Social media in Classroom, Self Learning and Flipped Classroom. He further elaborated and stressed on the importance of asking questions and the different kinds of questions that could be asked, such as question tags, yes/no, W/H questions, etc.

The final session was conducted by Mr. Prashanth Kumar on the Lesson Plan. This was an exhaustive and participative session where the meaning and importance of the Lesson Plan were provided to the faculty. Important things such as objective, prior knowledge, material needed, assessment and so on were explained. Components of a Lesson Plan such as Objective and Goals, probing, direct instruction, guided practice, closure, independent practice, required material and equipment, assessment and follow up, and so on, were also discussed. The faculty was divided into groups to create their own lesson plans. The session and the day concluded with an informative, inspirational video about the need to understand one's strengths and the need to work in collaboration to achieve success.

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