Queries:MSLFM Concordia U Chicago; Dr. Rajiv Tandon & Prof Pant

I assume that I was among the starting candidates/members of pagalguy and when I saw the post about MSLFM on PG, it was kind of a mix reactions happy to see that a forum has gained so much credibility and following and sad to see that I have misse…

I assume that I was among the starting candidates/members of pagalguy and when I saw the post about MSLFM on PG, it was kind of a mix reactions happy to see that a forum has gained so much credibility and following and sad to see that I have missed passing information on this forum about the MSLFM program started by Dr. Rajiv Tandon, a respected Indian and the greatest authority in field of education technology (google him and you will keep getting impressed about what a person can accomplish in one lifetime).



I am posting some material regarding the MSLFM program started by Dr. Rajiv Tandon in association with Concordia University of Chicago(ranked among top 10 in education and training).


I am posting this material from information sharing purpose only, so please only ask your queries regarding the program content and faculty, any other concerns such as admission process, placement, etc. should be directed to the program staff.


The postings are going to be focused on Program concept, profile of Dr. Tandon and Dr. Pant, professors in the program and the renowned authorities in education domain in US and India respectively.

Program Concept in words of Dr. Tandon

Parijaath proposes to deliver programs and processes to respond to the youth oriented demographics of India and other emerging countries. The youth will require us to focus on the large scale development of employable skills, that are presently in short supply. While the Government has initiated several policy level initiatives and budgeted large amounts; by itself, this will not solve the problem. The need is to enhance the basic skills, of all children and youth so that they can be prepared for a broad range of present and emerging jobs.

This opens up numerous opportunities. However all opportunities get quashed because of a paucity of trained manpower in the Education/Training domain itself. Consequently our initial focus is on developing a new breed of talent called the Learning Facilitator. It is designed to address the critical human resource shortages of the Education and Training domain.

It is important to review the outcome that encompasses five features that are all essential in collectively bringing about a radical change in the Education and Training domain:

1. Revamped Education Curricula: The traditional method of teaching, with rote memorization, has to be replaced with the process of helping learners achieve self-growth through critical and creative reflection, reasoning, and action. The traditional role of teachers/trainers/facilitators has to be revamped. Facilitation includes assisting, aiding, guiding, and empowering learners in the learning process; or put simply, facilitation is the process of helping students learn. There is little disagreement on this area of reform; it simply has not been implemented in any meaningful manner. Learning Facilitators would be at ease with the most contemporary methods of learning.
2. Scalability: The inevitable and predictable shortages for well trained personnel, in all different segments of training and education, require the programs to be scalable. Learning Facilitators would be trained with contemporary methods to be able to respond to the needs in large numbers.
3. Technology as an enabler: Numerous reports on the reform of education have considerably underplayed the role of technology in providing scalable and cost effective solutions for this almost impossible task. There is an obligatory mention of things like projectors, computers, etc.; teaching aids designed to leverage effective teachers. Only in academia, computer labs and multi-media content is still considered leading edge. Technology can do much more at various levels to provide non-controversial avenues for massive reform. Learning Facilitators will be well versed with multiple tools so they can lead in the adoption and effective use of technology.
4. Entrepreneurial Skills: Societies in most parts of the world compensate teachers inadequately in relation to their contributions. In the emerging world, the compensation may even be below a sustainable level. Predictably, the most suitable people are drawn away from this profession. A vicious cycle is thereby created- teachers doing poor teaching, producing an even poorer next generation of teachers after the cream is drawn away. This ever downward spiraling program ends up having an adverse impact on all aspects of society. Today, the system prepares only the exceptionally motivated self starters or the very privileged. Our intention is to reverse the downward spiral by selecting a group of people whose interest and aptitude are conducive to be a Learning Facilitator; infuse them with tools and abilities to be entrepreneurs, who make an income akin to other professionals. This skill set makes them imminently employable-whether in their own business or another. The Learning Facilitator is an Edupreneur.
5. Price Point for the Masses: The Western education establishment has achieved mass education, of a high standard, at a price point which is not tenable for sustainability even in the west; let alone the emerging world. Learning Facilitator program fees provide a world class high quality education at a price that fits the budget.

Every profession has their institute of excellence (e.g. IIT for Engineering, Julliard for Music, JJ School for Arts). No credible Teachers college, let alone a college for Learning Facilitators, exist in India. Parijaath changes that by educating Learning Facilitators at the triple intersection of 1. Education 2. Technology, and 3. Leadership (ETL). We strive to instill excellence in learning that will overcome a multitude of circumstances and shortcomings that face the emerging nations.

Our ambitious yet necessary program unfolds as follows: i) select the best people with interest, aptitude and passion for education/training, ii) fill as many gaps as possible in their skill set, iii) train them with curricula that include global best practices in ETL, iv) have a world class faculty and facilitators to guide them, and v) help them develop a plan. There are countless reasons why Learning Facilitators can become incredibly successful professionals with incomes and lifestyles to match.
Profile of Faculties involved:-

Rajiv Tandon
Founder and Chairman of Adayana, Inc., India
Dr. Rajiv Tandon is Founder and Chairman of Adayana, Inc. (Welcome to Adayana | Adayana) a US based performance improvement and workforce development company. Adayana is listed in the Top 20 Training Outsourcing Companies and in the Inc 500 fastest growing companies, three years in a row.

Tandons next adventure is related to educational initiatives around the world. India is a perfect laboratory for developing transformational initiatives in education that will fan to other emerging nations and across the globe. He was listed by Twin City Business Magazine as one of the "200 Minnesotans You Should Know" for his focus on "EduTech".

He teaches classes in Entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota; and in India to develop the human resources for the transformed educational paradigm. He is on the Board of Advisors at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. He has been involved with Technology in Education/Training ever since there has been that domain.

Prior to Learning Byte he was Director of the Corporate Venturing Programs at the University of St. Thomas and a tenured Professor where he taught MBA level courses in Venture Management and Franchising. In 1992, he was awarded the Edwin M. Appel Prize by the Price-Babson Program, Boston "for bringing entrepreneurial vitality to academia" and also the same year he was honored with the "Excellence in Teaching Through Innovation" Award by the graduate and undergraduate business programs at St. Thomas.

After emigrating to the U.S. in 1969, he held several positions at National Car Rental including corporate vice president and general manager of the Car Rental Division.

Under a Bush Leadership Fellowship, his doctoral dissertation in entrepreneurship examined critical success factors in emerging companies and built a model for evaluating the success potential of new opportunities. We believe that this was one of the earliest, if not the first, doctoral award in Entrepreneurship in the US. His research became the basis of the earliest and very successful program in Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas.

He started his career as an engineer in a steel foundry in India.

Dr. Tandon holds a Mechanical Engineering degree, with honors, from the Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, a M.S. in Operations Research, M.B.A. and Ph. D. in Entrepreneurship; all from the University of Minnesota.



Prof. M.M. Pant
Prof. M.M. Pant has promoted Planet EDU Pvt. Ltd., as its Founder & Chairman, along with a team of highly experienced and skilled professionals from Education & Training, Operations, IT and Finance.
A Ph.D in Computational Physics along with a Professional Law Degree, has been a practitioner in the field of Law, IT enabled education and IT implementation.
Prof. Pant, has been the Pro-Vice Chancellor
at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and on the faculty at IIT Kanpur (the premier Engineering institution in India), MLNR Engineering College and on the Faculty & Visiting Professor at University of Western Ontario-Canada.
He is a member of Board of Management of IIT Delhi
He has been a Visiting Scientist to research centers in Italy, England, Germany & Sweden and has delivered international lectures with about 80 published papers to his credit.

Hi,

I have also attended an information session on MSLFM, they were talking about providing funding to the education entrepreneurs.

Can you provide me reference of someone, who has actually received the funding.

Additionally, If they are planning to finance the ventures than why are they charging fees for the program

The clause of paid internship facility for students securing honors grade will be a facilitator/deterrent for the students planning to start their own venture.


Please answer the queries !!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Sagar,

Thanks for posting your queries, i will take some time to answer your other queries as i have a meeting scheduled in next30 mins.

I will like to clarify yours and other person's concern regarding the paid internship of the program.

The maths that students will receive amount more than what they have paid as their fees will make the institute and program as a sustainable model a questionable concept.

You should focus on two aspects, one this program has been started by the greatest minds in education for the cause of making education high quality and useful for all.

They are charging only the amount that is required for administrative and operations cost and some professors are not even taking remuneration for their lectures and time devoted.

The paid internship is provided after completion of a certain level of courses and at a standardized expertise level. So, the student undergoing paid internship is receiving remuneration/ salary for the value addition that he/she is providing to the university by acting as an online instructor and this remuneration is out of the scope of program i.e. program and student economics are not involved here.

Its the remuneration that student is receiving from university and the program has no interference/ allegiance to this pay out.

The other queries i will answer in a couple of days/ as early as possible.

Hi,

I have received some PM's that program concept is not coming clear to them.

To start with, i am going to explain the complete concept again in simple terms about what is the need and prospect of the MSLFM program.

This program can be understood in simple terms as Masters in Management with specialization in education and training domain, if we try to analogize it with existing indian MBA/Degree programs.

The focus of program is on three things one, creating education entrepreneurs, two creating managers, trainers and experts for existing opportunities in education and training sector and three for fulfilling the demand supply gap in developing and developed worlds

An example for same is that the online adjunct faculty is a monetarily highly lucrative and scalable concept that focuses on providing high quality trainers from developing nations(Indian online adjunct faculty) to developed country universities( CUChicago) at a high quality level(honors grade students and for a salary that makes education and training domain as lucrative as any other domain that exists.

Now, each one of us will agree that till date their is no IIT/IIM kind of reputed institute for education and training, this program has been launched with the motto of creating such an institute, where students interested in making a career in education and training are guided by the world's best professors for achieving what they dream off.

Success is measured to a large extent in terms of monetary rewards therefore, we had started the process of making education and training domain as lucrative/ better than any of the other sought after fields say for example consulting/ IT or banking that in due course, the best minds will be drawn towards education and training domain such that the overall quality of education imparted is taken to a level, where each student of country irrespective of whether living in a metro or in a village is able to get high quality useful education for making our country a better place to live.