From Guided Learning to NPTEL Star: Aman Routh

 Aman Routh

In the era of ChatGPT summaries and YouTube crash courses, most of us hardly have the time to go through the regular motions which long-drawn classroom lectures demand from us. Once we are done with school, college, and the whole bunch, we find ourselves reaching out for the quickest solutions, the briefest explanations. Knowledge is at our fingertips, we brag. But how does one put this knowledge to use? Mr. Aman Routh still clings to the belief that good, old-fashioned teachers might be the answer. 

Currently working as an Assistant Professor at Gopal Narayan Singh University, he pursued Ph.D. as a Senior Research Fellow in the Central University of South Bihar, Mr. Routh distributes his time among his roles as a teacher, learner, and researcher diligently. Since NPTEL came into his life during the pandemic, he has earned the tag of NPTEL Star and Believer, and successfully completed four courses, with more courses in progress. His achievements have not remained confined to him, motivating his colleagues as well as his students to turn to the platform. He thus feels the recognition that NPTEL gives out to its star learners to be very significant, for it reinforces one’s faith in hard work and perseverance. Although he has been learning from the platform since 2018-19, his consistent engagement with it began after a workshop hosted at IIT Kharagpur revealed to him the array of NPTEL achievements available to its high-performing learners. The tag of Domain Scholar was especially intriguing to him, which is what currently drives his learning endeavours. 

Despite such widespread awards and the establishment of the NPTEL Local Chapters, Mr. Routh urges further flow of information, especially to the students of today, who would rather learn from a chatbot in five minutes than turn to a rigorous course. He suggests more workshops and brainstorming sessions with potential learners to spread greater awareness on ground. The positive habits these courses help inculcate are multiple: beyond greater clarity of subject matter, the discipline and consistency needed to thrive at any field in one’s life are demanded from NPTEL learners, across courses. The weekly assignments and timely lectures require a commitment which is generously rewarded if one manages to demonstrate it. Mr. Routh’s courses helped him clarify his foundational knowledge of Cloud Computing, which is his area of research, while also giving him insights into how to guide his own students through using learner-friendly methods in his own classroom. The course he recalls fondly from his journey so far with NPTEL is ‘Cloud Computing’ by Professor Soumya Kanti Ghosh of IIT Kharagpur, which left quite an impact on the research he is currently pursuing.

While one must indeed appreciate the thirst for knowledge that drives this emerging generation of learners, it is through curated and directed learning that their energies can be productively channelled –  a promise which NPTEL delivers.

A Japanese proverb observes one day with a great teacher to be better than a thousand days of diligent study.

Mr. Aman Routh testifies to this, while himself guiding the seeking hands of his curious students on the tricky terrain of knowledge. 

~written by Eshani Bhattacharjee