Past, present, and future states of learning

Vishal Sachdev is a director and founder of the Illinois MakerLab in the Gies College of Business and a Clinical Associate Professor of Business Administration. Vishal is keenly interested in emerging technology and aspires to use his position to expose students to a variety of tools and processes for critical examination so that they can explore their social and intellectual impact on business and society. His business classes tend to be multidisciplinary, bridging gaps between non-technical and technical aspects derived from the College of Engineering, the Siebel Center of Design, and the College of Fine Arts, as well as University athletic programs.

Vishal’s teaching style includes the frequent use of case studies and project-based learning, which he believes are important for developing students’ empathy and their ability to solve real-world problems. He is also deeply committed to stimulating cognitive learning processes, as well as the development of peer-to-peer learning skills. Vishal describes the importance of cultivating self-determination in his students in order to drive their personal and professional motivation. He treats them like professionals, helping them to identify needs and then providing them with supplemental resources to match those needs. Often this is accomplished through a series of online discussion forums, where students are encouraged to develop their ideas and their questions in the company of peers, with Vishal serving as a guide.

These efforts translate into a more student-centered experience as his students learn how to recognize, create, and navigate their own learning journeys during the course. One of his assignments is a weekly reflection, which serves to make students dive deeper into their understanding of an idea by having the follow a three-part question framework: “What?, So what?, Now what?” This method not only forces students to consider issues beyond themselves, but to see those issues in broader contexts with different but meaningful kinds of impact. One theme that seems to emerge frequently in his courses is the idea of failure. Ideas fail, technology fails, policies fail, but as Vishal explains, failing is okay so long as something important can be learned from it. In other words, the experience is valuable if it can be used as a tool for future improvement. This continual evaluation of past, present, and future states of ideas is not only critical for understanding business, but also serves as a model to students of how to live their professional and personal lives. His advice to other instructors is to allow themselves to learn from one another, take advantage of disparate opportunities that can lead to surprising benefits, and to plan time for professional development and opportunities to refresh and build upon their own skills and talents.

Resources: Illinois Maker Lab