There are many things that have pleasantly occupied us during the last year. Anna and I have been most encouraged by friendships with some students and the opportunities it created to have times of conversation and fellowship. It was a pleasure to have been present for the Christmas celebrations of their hostels.
As I recall the dynamics of relationships with students during the last year, I find three interesting aspect of student life.
Most students are looking for guidance to plan their time and and choose their involvements. The 23 students who pursued short term student research projects were waiting to be asked to do something that was challenging and creative. That became our point of contact with them and gave us several occasions to have times of personal chats. That was a neutral starting point.
I decided to convert the formal lectures to an exploratory learning exercise for them. There were group discussions, presentations, discussions around clinical scenarios, recollections of personal stories, etc. I planned a participatory approach to retain their attention in the post lunch hour lecture. But it turned out to be a genuine experience of learning by enquiry and reflection. Student are open to innovative experiences of learning.
Most students think and act as a group. They so like the peer interactions that they like to explore new ideas if they can be doing it together. This naturally created leadership skills in some of them. It was easier to have contacts and interaction with some of them who had this formative influence on the rest of the group. To influence students and foster their formation, it is necessary to identify the natural leaders who influence the peers.
For Anna and myself, we needed their friendships to feel at home where we were strangers when we arrived two years back!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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