GRE vs GMAT for entry into business schools

I recently read an article in the business week on how GRE is slowly gaining acceptance as an alternate exam for gaining entry into business schools, starting from Harvard business school. The article also mentions how it means that the monopoly which was held by GMAT is slowly being broken. But apart from those issues it also reminded me of an issue which has been lingering in my mind for quite some time now, on how valid are these tests from the perspective of attracting the right pool of students. We test them of basic Maths and their reading and written English and some interviews and group discussions to identify students who will go on to become successful managers. I think the sentence itself makes my the point quite clear ...

But then people might say that these exams have been quite successful till now, which is partially true, but the reasons may not be the test, but actually may be in spite of it. First, because of the fact that these tests are the known gateways, students may self-select themselves, (nothing to do with the test) and in the process we end up getting a pool of students who do well in business. And, we never know the results of an alternate way as we do not have one to compare with.

In fact at times i feel if it is the case of "Emperor's New Clothes" and all of us are happy with the way things are progressing. But maybe it is time that the larger issue of the need to identify newer ways of identifying students students who will do well in business be developed especially in the larger context of what is happening in the business world currently...

25 Incredible TED talks for educators

This is a link from the post learn-gasm blog, as the title itself says it is a list of 25 TED talks. I found the list very good, though I should accept that i have seen only the first and last in the list. And thus the post here also would serve as a reminder for me to watch all of them. Hope my readers would also find the list to be useful,

List of the 25 TED talks

In pursuit of "freshness" in teaching

As a teacher who is new to the craft of teaching I was worrying on how a teacher needs to keep himself "fresh". Once someone has taught the same course a couple of times, sets in a tendency to relax a bit , hoping that the preparation which he or she had done the last time around would be enough to carry him through. But the need to keep oneself "fresh" cannot be overemphasised, not just for the students but firstly for himself. Because the first person who has to be interested in the course is the teacher himself and I feel if the same examples and cases have been used over a period of time there is a high chance that he himself might have lost of the enthu of going into the class and sharing it.

In today's era of ppts it is both easy as well as difficult to keep one's material fresh, because as easy as it is to update the ppt, more is the inertia not wanting to change the presentation. Paradoxically though the imperative to change and update is higher in the information era, reasons being two-fold. Firstly owing to fast paced change and the wider availability of information. And the second reason why the ppts need to be updated if not changed, is because in the computer-era chances are that what you shared with the students last year is anyway there with students of this year.

There are some teachers whom I have heard tend to tear-off the notes that they have prepared for their class as soon as the class is over so that he has prepare afresh the next time he has to teach the same course, though might seem a extreme , but then we all tend to prepare the best when we have very little to fall back on.

I watch with envy the spring in walk of teachers walking towards the teaching block ready for their class after doing the same for 15-20 years, maybe all teachers more so the ones who are new to teaching should also access that elixir of freshness in teaching...............