{"id":993,"date":"2026-10-21T07:01:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/?p=993"},"modified":"2026-10-21T07:01:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:01:58","slug":"the-parallel-university-dr-mokanas-path-to-nptel-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/2026\/10\/21\/the-parallel-university-dr-mokanas-path-to-nptel-stardom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Parallel University: Dr. Mokana\u2019s Path to NPTEL Stardom\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dr Mokana Sundari M<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every educator reaches a point where teaching stops being only about covering a syllabus and becomes about rediscovering one\u2019s own curiosity. For Dr. Mokana Sundari M, Assistant Professor in English at PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore, that moment arrived in 2018 through a circular from her college management. PSGCAS had just set up an NPTEL Local Chapter, and faculty members were encouraged to try at least one course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Dr. Mokana Sundari is a proud <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NPTEL Discipline Star in Humanities and Social Sciences, with 9 completed courses and more than 4 Elite Certificates. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But behind the certificates is a quieter story – one of managing teaching, research, writing, and learning at the same time, while continuing to grow as a student herself. The courses she completed at NPTEL were \u2018Soft Skills\u2019, \u2018Psychology of Language\u2019, \u2018Literature, Culture and Media\u2019, \u2018Effective Writing\u2019, \u2018Forensic Linguistics\u2019, \u2018Emotional Intelligence\u2019, \u2018An Introduction to Indian Literary Theory\u2019, \u2018Stress Management and Memory\u2019, \u2018Student Psychology and Introduction to Film Studies\u2019. Her course choices were never limited to one narrow area. In the early years, she chose subjects connected to her work as an English teacher. Many of these courses gave her ideas she could use almost immediately in her classrooms. Courses like \u2018Forensic Linguistics\u2019 made her look at language in a completely new way, showing her how words, patterns, and communication can become evidence. Her journey was not always steady. Between 2022 and 2024, she had to pause her NPTEL learning because her Ph.D. research demanded all her attention. When she returned after completing her doctorate, she came back with more clarity and energy. In fact, the timing worked out well. The \u2018Stress Management\u2019 course came at a point when she was trying to balance teaching, research, writing, and publication deadlines all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing a full-time role at PSGCAS along with book and journal writing was not easy. NPTEL assignments had fixed deadlines, and there were many late nights when college work had to be finished first. She watched lectures at 1.5x speed, rewound difficult portions, and made notes to make sure she truly understood the concepts. Travelling to exam centres for proctored tests added its own challenges, but completing each certification made the effort feel worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, NPTEL has become part of how Dr. Mokana teaches. When she discusses culture, media, or professional soft skills with her students, she does not rely only on textbook explanations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She brings in perspectives from IIT professors, ideas from national toppers, and examples from the courses she has taken. Looking back at her journey from a first-time learner in 2018 to a Discipline Star, she calls NPTEL her \u201cparallel university\u201d-a reminder that learning does not depend on age, designation, or a fixed stage of life. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Her next goal is to complete 12 courses and reach Super Star status. But more than the recognition, she wants her students to see what is possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy sincere gratitude to the PSGCAS Local Chapter for giving me that first push, and to NPTEL for sustaining that curiosity,\u201d she shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~written by Khadija Hussain<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Mokana Sundari M Every educator reaches a point where teaching stops being only about covering a syllabus and becomes about rediscovering one\u2019s own curiosity. For Dr. Mokana Sundari M, Assistant Professor in English at PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore, that moment arrived in 2018 through a circular from her college management. PSGCAS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nptel-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":996,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions\/996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.nptel.ac.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}