Lessons That Left the Screen: Pranjal Tripathi’s NPTEL Experience

Pranjal Tripathi

A newborn baby may seem like an unlikely starting point for a classroom discussion on power. Yet, for Pranjal Mani Tripathi – Assistant Professor at Woxsen University in Hyderabad, Telangana, it is an example worth returning to. The example, recalled from Prof. M. P. Ganesh’s NPTEL course makes an abstract idea immediately familiar: power is the ability to influence the behaviour of others.

Pranjal brings that lesson into his own classroom. But his introduction to NPTEL came earlier, during his doctoral studies, through a recommendation from his guide, Dr. Anindo Bhattacharjee – Chairperson, Central Research Committee of Woxsen University. Until then, he had not heard of the platform. Dr. Bhattacharjee’s suggestion introduced him to courses that would shape how he understood people and organisations and later become part of his pedagogy.

During his PhD, he enrolled in four courses: ‘Organizational Behaviour’ by Prof. M. P. Ganesh of IIT Hyderabad, ‘Advanced Course in Social Psychology’ by Prof. Pooja Garg of IIT Roorkee, ‘Brief Introduction to Psychology’ by Prof. Braj Bhushan of IIT Kanpur, and ‘Organization Development and Change in the 21st Century’ by Prof. Ashish Pandey of IIT Bombay.

Together, these courses offered him different ways to think about individuals, their relationships with others, and the organisations in which they work.

What connects these subjects is their attention to human behaviour. An organisation is not only a structure of roles and responsibilities; it is also a place where people influence one another, respond to change, and bring their own perspectives to shared situations. For Pranjal, studying these subjects during his doctoral years helped shape an understanding that he continues to draw upon as an educator.

In December 2023, he was honoured as an NPTEL Superstar by IIT Madras. The recognition became a milestone in a journey that had begun with his guide’s recommendation. Yet, when he speaks about the experience, it is the teachers and their lessons that remain at the centre of his account.

A year later, in December 2024, he had an opportunity to make one of those connections in person. At a conference at IIM Ahmedabad, he met Prof. Ashish Pandey, whose course on organisation development and change he had taken. Pranjal told him how interesting he had found the course and expressed his interest in taking another of his courses, ‘Yoga and Positive Psychology for Managing Career and Life’. It was a chance to tell a teacher directly that his lectures had stayed with a learner beyond the screen.

That lasting influence is most visible in Pranjal’s classroom at Woxsen University. Like other educators featured in NPTEL Stories who carry their online learning into their teaching, he draws on the explanations and examples he encountered as a learner to help his own students approach a concept. The journey does not end with understanding a lesson for himself; it continues when he finds a way to communicate it to someone else.

The newborn analogy helps Pranjal show students that influence does not require a title. He then adds a reflection of his own: never exercise power unnecessarily or assume it belongs exclusively to you. The class usually falls silent, but he does not mistake that silence for complete understanding. Even an initial grasp can spark reflection. For him, teaching is about making ideas accessible and giving students the space to explore their meaning.

That is the thread running through his NPTEL story. A guide points him towards an unfamiliar learning platform. Four teachers offer perspectives that stay with him. Later, as an Assistant Professor, he carries those lessons into another classroom, adding his own reflections along the way. The Superstar recognition marks an achievement, but the continuing life of those lessons in examples, discussions, and moments of thought is what makes the journey personal.

~written by Khadija Hussain