An Experiment on Introducing Human Values Course

in Undergraduate Curriculum of Engineering Education


Ramancharla Pradeep Kumar, Rajeev Sangal, Abhijit Mitra,

Navjyoti Singh and Kamalakar Karlapalem

International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad, India


March 25, 2009


Abstract

Today’s technical education, in its widely prevalent form, is not able to adequately empower

students to think independently. Consequently, being driven by peer pressure, it is leading to a

blind race for jobs that are intellectually and mentally unfulfilling, and wealth that breeds chaos

in family and in society. However, education is not just about learning skills (how to) but also

about developing the ability to decide on what (what to do?) and why (why to do?). It should

lead to the development of critical ability in students towards distinguishing between essence

and form, or between what is of value and what is superficial, in life. It should develop their

understanding which is a prerequisite for a movement from rule based society to a relationship

based society. In this paper, we discuss our experiment of introducing a compulsory course

on Human Values in the undergraduate core curriculum in a technical university. Rather than

aiming at ’teaching’ values, the course is structured to encourage students to discover what

are of value for them and for the society. Thus the aim of the course is to enable students to

discriminate between the valuable and the superficial in real situations in their life.

The course is conducted through discussions in small groups each mentored by a faculty

member. There are no formal lectures in the course. During every class the faculty mentor

introduces a topic and initiates the discussion. While analysing and discussing the topic, the

faculty mentor’s role is in pointing to essential elements to help in sorting them out from the

surface elements. In other words, help the students understand the important or critical elements.

For the above topics, scenarios are used to initiate discussion. Depending on the nature

of topics, worksheets, home assignment and/or activities are included. What makes it challenging

is the fact that the ability is to be developed not for a narrow area or field of study, but

for everyday situations in life. Therefore, one week long intense workshop on Jeevan Vidya is

conducted which allows students to reflect on questions pertaining to life.

The paper describes a few detailed examples illustrating the methodology of conducting

the course. It also analyses the feedback from students of past four years and includes some

assessment of its impact on student environment.

_Associate Professor & Corresponding Author (ramancharla@iiit.ac.in)

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1 Introduction & Background

The world today is ridden with problems galore. While the manners in which these problems

are perceived, articulated and prioritized vary widely, there is a commonality of approach in

how most civil societies in the world over are engaged in trying to solve them. Inherent in

this approach is the assumption, that with enough knowledge and technology, one can manage

planet earth. We not only disagree with this assumption, we also feel that it has perhaps played

a major role in severely restricting the scope of education in general and technical education in

particular.

To elaborate, let us take two major problems we see at the societal level: poverty and

unemployment. No amount of knowledge and technology can solve these without addressing

the prevalent human relation issues such as those of dominance and exploitation. We feel that

a major, if not the sole, purpose of education is to enable individuals in understanding these

causal relationships. More comprehensively stated, education implies holistic inputs towards

preparing the future generation to understand the essential harmony in the world around them

and to empower them to participate proactively in its dynamics.

Even at the level of higher technical education, mere imparting of skills does not fulfill this

requirement. Technology only tells us how to do things which we want to do. However, without

an understanding of what to do & and why and that of what is of value to the individual and

to the society, the students can not become proactive in their social environment. Instead,

in the absence of a proper understanding, the student community tends to get oriented with

the defaults in the society viz., emphasis on superficial and non-essential glamour, consumerist

lifestyle, and a false sense of satisfaction (or dejection) in competition and one-upmanship.

As faculty members involved in the process of setting up a, now ten year old, technical

university; we have experimented with the methods of addressing this deficiency in our approach

to education. Here we outline details of our experiment.

2 Education setting at IIIT Hyderabad

From its inception in 1998, IIIT Hyderabad had adopted a di_erent approach towards shaping

student life and activities. For example, it has Student Life Committee to define and create

extracurricular space for students. Guidelines and traditions, rather than rules would be used

and even thay were expected to evolve through dialogue and involvement with the students.

The vision was to create a colorful campus, vibrant with activities and with an ambience where

a majority of students could participate in a process of responsible self governance.

For the first few years, thanks to the small batch sizes, the faculty could maintain close

interaction with all the students who in turn, imbibed with the excitement and spirit characteristic

of pioneers, participated in the process of implementing a shared vision.

The heavy load of coursework not withstanding, quite a few students were involved in voluntary

community services which included running the messes, computer system administration

web infrastructure development, organization of games, sports as well as cultural events etc.

Their involvement was so intense that the institute was moved to create a special award for

consistent outstanding voluntary service the Banyan Award and we felt proud to confer the

award to deserving students. Everything seemed to be moving on like a dream for nearly four

2

years till from the 5th year certain happenings alerted us that perhaps every thing was not all

right with student dynamics. Here are some of those listed in no particular order:

• In 2003 the third year students, in violation of established traditions, organized a whole

night farmhouse party for the graduating batch. It was orderly but the direction things

were heading was disturbing. The party apparently had all the trendy characteristics

professional DJ liquor etc.

• The parliament elections in the year 2004 had to be nullified twice because of complaints

of malpractices including forced voting and use of regionalism etc for campaigning.

• There was a significant drop in extracurricular activities. The inter batch cultural event

Amalgam, after two very successful years, had to be cancelled in 2004 for lack of participation.

Participation of IIIT students in the annual techno cultural event Felicity both

as performers as well as audience dropped.

• Attendance in classes started dropping. Many of those present were half asleep. It was

clear that a large number of students were hooked to playing computer games and watching

movies.

• Student blogs were highly critical of most decisions of the institute administration. What

was alarming was that the students no longer analyzed situations as participants in a

system but as users of facilities.

The faculty felt concerned. When individually talked to, a large number of students also

shared these concerns but they felt helpless. Several restrictive rules and regulations such as

compulsory attendance and compulsory extracurricular credits were discussed and some implemented

and punitive measures had to be taken on some occasions. But these only served

towards widening the studentfaculty gap. Faculty student interaction sessions did not seem to

work and talk about values, visions and ideals were received with great skepticism. In particular,

the SLC was being viewed very negatively by many students.

3 Diagnosis & Strategy

When one studies the situation we are in today, we arrive at the following:

1. At the level of Individual: We see today that humans on the one hand have unhappiness,

dissatisfaction, lack of hope, and a sense of futility about them, and on the other are

faced with domination and other problems. The health of the body is steadily declining

in spite of improved levels of material and medical facilities. A majority of people find

themselves engulfed in the problems of some type, and some people have even come to

believe that no soutions are even possible.

2. At the level of Family: One sees complaints, fights inter-personal tensions, injustice,

hatred and numerous attempts to solve these, ultimately leading to disintegration and a

feeling of being deprived of material facilities.

3. At the level of Society: Problems are visble in the form of tendency to snatch from

one another, opposition, exploitation, struggle, war, poverty and unemployment. There

is talk of working in harmony with each other, but never en up being successful.

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4. At the level of Nature/environment: Problems manifest in the form of imbalance,

pollution, scarcity of physical and ecological disturbances. poisonous material are on the

increase in the air, water, soil and food while the fertility of the soil is decreasing.

As a result, one is unable to find happiness and perpetually su_er from a sense of lack of

prosperity. In such case individuals are not able to contribute to the real progress of self as well

as community as a whole. This sense of disempowerment in the individuals in some ways put

them in the service of the dominant trend of perceiving the only the financial interests.

Strategy is to create institute wide environment which generates confedence in individuals

which allows them to make mistake but ensure that they learn from it. Initiation of campus

wide porcess where all the members of the community are in the process of undetstanding of

values. The essential component of this engagement would not be interms of giving moralistic

lectures of the narrow realm of prefessional ethics. But, to bring out the human values which we

all possess inherently. As an experiment we introduced Human Values course as a compulsory

subject in the curriculum of engineering education.

4 Experiment

4.1 Objective:

The Human Values course tries to achieve the following objectives.

1. To develop a critical ability to distinguish between essence and form, or between what is

of value and what is superficial, to life.

What makes it di_cult is the fact that the ability is to be developed not for a narrow

area or field of study, but for everyday situations in life. It covers the widest possible

canvas.

2. To move from discrimination to commitment.

It is not su_cient to develop the discrimination ability, it is important to act on such

discrimination in a given situation.

3. The course does not teach values.

It encourages students to discover what they consider valuable. Accordingly, they

should be able to discriminate between valuable and the superficial in real situations in

their life.

4.2 Mode of conduct

The course is conducted through discussions in small groups each mentored by a faculty member.

During every class the faculty mentor introduces a topic and initiates the discussion. While

analysing and discussing the topic, the faculty mentor’s role is in pointing to essential elements

to help in sorting them out from the surface elements. In other words, help the students focus

on the important or critical elements.

While discussing di_erent topics, the mentor encourages the student to connect with one’s

own self and do self observation. The student is encouraged to take up ”ordinary” situations

rather than ”extra-ordinary” situations. Such observations and their analyses are shared and

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discussed with other students and faculty mentor, in a group sitting.

Experiments or practicals are important. The di_erence is that the laboratory is everyday

life, and practicals are how you behave and work in real life.

The group discussions would also provide support to a student in performing actions commensurate

to his/her beliefs. Hopefully, this would lead to development of commitment, namely

behaving and working based on one’s beliefs (or values).

There would be no formal lectures in the course (other than in the Jeevan Vidya shivir which

is a co-requisite). For the above topics, scenarios may be used to initiate discussion. Depending

on the nature of topics, worksheets, home assignment and/or activity may be included.

4.3 Jeevan Vidya

The workshop addresses the self in the human being. It draws attention to human needs; need

for human relationships, inherent desire to seek knowledge, and the joy that we naturally derive

from these. In our current situation, we might be seeking di_erent things. Thus, it brings

about a dialogue between what we are and what we want to be. It does not posit happiness in

an after-world, but here and now, based on “humanness” common to all human beings. The

approach is rational, universal and humanistic.

The workshop is not a course in moral science. It does not tell you DOs and DONT’s.

It does not tell you what you should become, or what you should do. It only connects you

with your SELF and encourages you to seek answers within SELF. The workshop does not talk

about rewards and punishments in an afterworld. It does not say that physical facilities are

unimportant and must be shunned. It rather talks of prosperity in every family.

4.4 Topics covered

• Self confidence: Relative and absolute confidence, being self-determined, swatantrata

(loosely equivalent to freedom).

• Peer pressure: Examples of external pressure, relating to swatantrata (freedom), making

one’s own choices.

• Relationship with family and friends: Major cause of unhappiness today.

• Anger: Investigation of reasons, watching ones own anger. Is anger a sign of power or

helplessness, distinction between response and reaction.

• Right utilization of physical facilities: Determining one needs, needs of the self and

of the body, cycle of nature.

• Relationship with teachers: Inside the class, and outside the class interacting with

teachers.

• Time Management: Issues of planning, as well as concentration (and aligning with self

goals).

• Respect: Do you respect yourself? Do you respect others? Feeling of respect is di_erent

from expression of that feeling.

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• Expectations from your self: Excellence and competition, coping with stress, Identifying

one’ interests as well as strengths.

• Complimentarity of skills and values: Distinction between information & knowledge

• Goals: Short term goals and long term goals (discussing one’s goals). How do we set our

goal? How to handle responsibilities which have to be fulfilled while working for goals.

4.5 Process of evaluation

This is a pass credit option (PCO) course, and there would only be pass/fail grade. Participation

in discussions, weekly report and final report will be used in evaluation. Pass grade will be given

if student satisfies the above requirement.

5 Outcome in last four years

Approach of the course is holistic covering the large canvas of life. It has made a significant

impact on student community. Although the concerns of each individual may be di_erent, what

they realize at the end is that there is a need for human values and relationships and that is

founded upon the knowledge in the self.

Since human values course is a compulsory part of curriculum in first year, it has lead to

major re-thinking among them. They have been reflecting on what their goals are, the place

of money in life, the joy one derives in relationship, and in seeking knowledge and not merely

on jobs and the money they get out of it. They have become relaxed in their self, and become

more sensitive to relationships with their friends and family, and regarding society and nature.

5.1 E_ect on cultural festival

Felicity: that is what the annual student techno-cultural festival is named as in IIIT. The first

annual techno-cultural festival, Felicity 2001, had a vision true to its name: A time of enjoyment,

reveling, appreciation of the privilege, freedom and comfort given unto us, sense of celebration,

the feeling and hope (if not conviction) that ”everything-is-alright-with-the-world” No one of

us is where he or she is because of anything we did – the world has made us and given us this

niche. And it is time we gave back. That should be what our festival is.

That the reality has veered o_, so far away from the vision, dawned upon the IIIT community,

as late as 2005, from tell tale symptoms such as: lack of participation of IIIT students

in Felicity as performers, huge amount of money spent to invite a celebrity, for a flop event,

absence of quality in competitive events etc. Serious students and faculty alike were concerned

to find that somewhere down the line the spirit of celebration and associated connecting with

each other and with others, has given way to trying to draw large crowds from outside for show

o_. These symptoms of the essentials of celebration giving way to the superficiality of arrogant

showmanship, led to a series of soul searching panel discussions, on the basis of which recommendations

on what Felicity ought to be were drawn out.

When it came to implementation of these recommendations, for Felicity 2006, quite expectedly

the mainstream student organizing group resented them. But this time there was one

di_erence. The space had been created whereby we could discuss on the basis of what they

think as right as against what others follow. There were several who listened and understood.

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As a result, though the time spent to put across the point adversely a_ected Felicity 2006 in

general, one could sense a larger proactive involvement of the non-vocal majority. There was in

fact a debate generated from within the organizing circles, regarding the need for spending huge

amount of money to organize a Rock Show, something which is considered in though which only

a few enjoyed, at the cost of other events which a far larger number of students enjoyed from

their heart.

We were afraid that these signs of the turn around could be transient. That in the face

of what the commercial media paints as celebration and which constantly works on the young

minds, the understanding of what real celebration is, something that most of them inherit from

celebrations at home, would possibly be fighting a loosing battle. It was sheer serendipity for

us to find that the turn around to be far more permanent and that too without requiring any

major upheavals or caveats from the faculty. Since 2007, Felicity has been moving from strength

to strength, drawing visibly larger participation from diverse sections of the student population,

every following year. Every year the organizers have been consciously articulating, for themselves,

the roadblocks to the free flow of the spirit of celebration; in order to prioritize them

and address them one at a time. In 2007 it was the proactive involvement of junior batches,

in 2008 it was the involvement of non-metro majority and this year it was the involvement of

seniors and PG students.

In hindsight we know what was at the root of this serendipitous experience. We had initiated

our engagement at the level of human values with the UG2k6 batch. With every following year,

the percentage of the undergraduate population with whom we share a sense of togetherness,

and of trust, has been increasing. In the process, more and more students have felt empowered

to be able to assert without aggression. On our part the faculty understood the need to provide

them with both, guidance as well as space for experimenting and for learning from mistakes.

It is indeed a win-win experience with students believing that the faculty is not there only to

frown at whatever they enjoy and the faculty realizing that even when apparently restrictive

policies are questioned by the students, a large number of them are prepared to examine the

rationale with an open mind. It was a heart warming experience for us, when the main organizers,

some of whom are known for their indulgence into drinking, proudly announced the

successful completion of an alcohol free yet highly satisfying Felicity 09.

5.2 Student Self Governance

From its inception, there seemed to be problems with the student parliamentary process based

on general elections. Over the years, it was being observed that in the beginning of the sessions,

some of the active students were enthusiastically organizing sports and cultural events involving

a large section of students. Once the parliamentary secretaries were being elected all activities

tended to come to a screeching halt — an indication that orators and limelight seekers, rather

than organizers, were getting elected.

We could demonstrate this e_ect in 2005 and in the absence of prejudices, suggestions

for having a students parliament consisting of organizers, as against certificate seekers, were

accepted in 2006 by the student body. The student parliament was constituted not by macro

democracy where a few secretaries were elected thru a general election involving all, but through

micro democracy with small groups electing their representatives from among themselves. To

ensure that posts are held only by those who are active, it was agreed by the students that no

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certificates will be given to any one merely for holding posts. Certificates would be given to all

who are actually active and in order to be active one need not be holding any o_cial post.

5.3 E_ect on ragging

Every year there is a gush of fresh blood in university. There is a moment of welcome that

marks the occasion. Being a residential university, this is a moment of switch from the caring

gaze of family to the live-in culture of the university. Senior students have a caring role here,

apart from the assurances of faculty and management. What are and should be the contents of

this moment? This question is significant because there is a prevalence of the practice of ragging

of freshers by the senior students. Ragging is a kind of shock treatment to unseat behavioral

composure of freshers into wilderness. Ragging methods are designed to dazzle defenseless new

entrant into performing humiliating activities. As a policy of the institute ragging is discouraged.

However, certain incidences of ragging came to light in the past. As an impact of the institutional

concern for value education, these incidents got handled in an innovative way, a way

that changed the culture of institution in a major way.

There was a ragging incidence where three senior students were caught. Disciplinary committee

suspended these students after proper inquiry. The punishment generated turmoil among

students as it amounted to irreversibly spoiling the career of these senior students. Through

an innovative dialogue with the general body of students a way out was formulated. Let these

students undergo for a semester value education internship in a non-governmental organization,

which worked in non-urban setting for school education some 1500 kms away. And for this

they would get credit. This was grudgingly accepted by the students as it saves them from

suspension. A semester long stay and internship in that organization changed these students in

a major way. This was entirely unexpected by the students. These students not only enjoyed

there internship but had marked change in their outlook in favor of humility and humanism.

They surprisingly became exemplars of humanism who saw the truth behind dehumanizing

humiliation. This incident imprinted a value in the institutional culture - atonement is more

powerful then punishment.

5.4 E_ect on academics

Majority of students joining IIIT, have had at least two years of very rigorous and highly disciplined

work ethics, and more importantly extreme strain and tension which sap away their

energies prior to joining the institute. Most of them attend coaching institutes for getting trained

to secure high rank in very selective competitive exams (IIIT selects 175 students among top

ranker’s out of 750000 students who take All India Engineering Entrance Examination). The

achievement of getting into IIIT is a mixed feeling for most of these accomplished students, they

are happy that they could get into into atop institute in India, but they are also disappointed

because with some more luck and hard work they could have go into a better brand-named

institute.

The mentality of quite a few students was to spend four/five years at the institute complete

the degree requirements and then get a job or go for higher studies. The institute was used as

a stepping stone for their global plans. This was contrary to the institute goals and ideals of

involving students in academics, getting them to do research in their undergraduate years, and

getting them to absorb the sense of belonging to the institute. In order to address these issues

8

Human Values course along with weekly faculty interaction has been able to address issues

related to:

• Work Load: The first year students come to the institute without realising the amount

of work they have to do in a week. The lagers soon realise that they have been quickly

accumulating lot of work that needs to be caught up with. The faculty mentors along

with Teaching Assistants and senior students have been communicating with new students

about academic load, the importance of it, and how to plan for their studies. The main

advantage of this course has been free flow of information about issues on workload and

other academic aspects of course conduct among the students and faculty. It has become

a strength of character test for students to show that they can take up the load and work

with it. Majority of students have realised that mandatory attendance of classes is helping

them in their academics.

• Identifying Academic Purpose: Our students are lot less worried about grades and

more about the learning they have got out of the courses. Within four years of their study

they get to realise that understanding of the material is valued and will take them forward

in their life. They are able to decide the areas of specialization they would want to pursue

and why. In fact, the students are able to eliminate some career paths because they have

better understanding of their capabilities and desires. Quite a few students have taken

early decisions (like end of second year) to pursue a research career by shifting from course

driven B.tech program to thesis driven Dual-Degree program of B.tech and Masters by

Research.

The aim of the institute to be a serious academic place with all round development of

students is supported by the strong human values component in the academic program.

6 Conclusions

Today’s technical education, in its widely prevalent form, is not able to adequately empower

students to think independently. Even at the level of higher technical education, mere imparting

of skills does not fulfill this requirement. Technology only tells us how to do things which we

want to do. However, without an understanding of what to do & and why and that of what is of

value to the individual and to the society, the students can not become proactive in their social

environment. Instead, in the absence of a proper understanding, the student community tends

to get oriented with the defaults in the society viz., emphasis on superficial and non-essential

glamour, consumerist lifestyle, and a false sense of satisfaction (or dejection) in competition

and one-upmanship. As an experiment we introduced Human Values course as a compulsory

subject in the curriculum of engineering education. Through this an attempt is made to create

institute wide environment which generates confedence in individuals which allows them to

make mistake but ensure that they learn from it. Initiation of campus wide porcess where all

the members of the community are in the process of undetstanding of values. The essential

component of this engagement would not be interms of giving moralistic lectures of the narrow

realm of prefessional ethics. But, to bring out the human values which we all possess inherently.

Approach of the course is holistic covering the large canvas of life. It has made a significant

impact on student community.

9

7 References:

• Rajeev Sangal (2007): Value education; relieving peer pressure, addressing culture and

stimulating studies, National convention on value education through Jeevan Vidya, IIT

Delhi, India. Url: http://www.iiit.ac.in/techreports/reports.html.

• A Nagaraj Sharma (2001): Jeevan Vidya: Ek parichay, Yugbodh digital printers,

Raipur, Chattisgarh, India.

• Kamalakar Karlepalem (2007): Optimizing life, National convention on value education

through Jeevan Vidya, IIT Delhi, India. Url: http://www.iiit.ac.in/techreports/reports.html.

• Rajeev Sangal (2007): Some experiments on resloving problems through relationship rather

than punishment, National convention on value education through Jeevan Vidya, IIT

Delhi, India. Url: http://www.iiit.ac.in/techreports/reports.html.

• Abhijit Mitra (2007) Faculty involvement in student life and activities, National convention

on value education through Jeevan Vidya, IIT Delhi, India. Url: http://www.iiit.ac.in/techreports/reports.• Ramancharla Pradeep Kumar (2007) Can we create a ragging free environment, National

convention on value education through Jeevan Vidya, IIT Delhi, India. Url: http://www.iiit.ac.in/techreports/10