The vital role of an educationist during the pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic initiated a never-seen-before scenario, what we now refer to as the ‘new normal’. This gave rise to some especially unique challenges for educationists who were required to don several additional hats which included those of a mentor, parent, sibling, friend and guide. Their role was no longer limited to creating the regular course curriculum and syllabus, but also extended towards enabling good mental and physical health of students. As a fellow educator, I took upon the challenge of familiarising the academics community with the concept of virtual learning environments. I experimented with numerous techniques to engage learners in my classes, undertook an extensive training program offered by my institute, updated my teaching skills and even published my very first book on Virtual learning environments. It all brought me to the realisation that teachers need to empathize with their students, talk to them, listen to their problems, find solutions together & delegate responsibilities to navigate successfully during this delicate period.
The pressing need for a dedicated VLE Program
The pandemic has brought about a sudden yet significant change in the education industry. Both teachers and students are forced to adapt blended learning well before time. What would have taken a couple more years is suddenly the norm.
Classrooms today are dominated by technology. With a plethora of options to choose from, it has become imperative to weigh out the pros and cons of each. Educators have to zero in on an appropriate platform which is well-suited to their respective subjects and sensitive to the diverse backgrounds of students.
Technology indeed plays a great supporting role in the learning process. Research findings have also shown that web based learning is more convenient, encourages autonomy, and enhances the fun element of learning. Despite these factors, it can get a bit overwhelming for students to grasp due to the information overload. There’s a pressing need for assistance on how to bridge this gap.
And hence, I launched the Virtual Learning Environment Masterclass on my e-learning platform to help fellow educators & trainers who are struggling with the new normal in education. Through this Masterclass, I share basic tips and secrets to engage learners in virtual classrooms. The Certificate Program further strengthens skills to deal with other relevant issues which educators face in their sessions – learners’ engagement, participation, and motivation. We have received an overwhelming response within the first few days of launch from over 200+ educators from different countries.
Humour in Pedagogy - A Teachers Training program for CP Goenka International school, Thane
It was a pleasure to conduct the Teachers Training program for CP Goenka International school, Thane, Mumbai on the 9th of October, 2021 which was attended by the headmistress, coordinator and a large number of dynamic teachers. The session facilitated a discussion on the importance of humour in classrooms, how to convert HA HA moments to AHA Moments, and the do’s & don’ts of making a session fun & interesting for both teachers & students. The teachers were highly appreciative and participated actively by sharing their personal stories with students. I also emphasized on using gamification as a teaching methodology and connecting with the learners through emotional intelligence.
I would like to extend a warm thank you for organizing an amazing training session. Not only was the
session very informative but the training link shared that was provided to us before the session was also very interesting. What I enjoyed the most was the ACRONYMS used for HUMOUR which made the whole process of learning so much more fun.
I want to thank you for being involved in the process of making this training session so productive. It
was a great job done and I will look forward to attending more training sessions conducted by you.
Ms Shilpa Melwani
Lead Teacher (Grade 4)
C P Goenka International School
Thane, Mumbai - India
Thank you, it was a fabulous session with a great sense of humor and profound knowledge in the field of education. Attending this was really fun and informative.
Ms Urmita Naik
English TIC-(Grade 3)
C P Goenka International School
Thane, Mumbai - India
A program that has reached far and wide, to create a larger impact. 50+ educators from CP Goenka School are now certified in Virtual Learning
Testimonials by headmistress, coordinator and teachers of the CP Goenka School, Thane, who’ve benefited from my VLE Program.
It was indeed a pleasure to have Dr. Ruby K with us. She conducted a session with our teachers on the topic ’Humour in Pedagogy' - indeed need of the hour with the gloomy pandemic situation around us all. I liked the simple yet innovative strategies put forth by Dr. Ruby. It can be easily used by our teachers to bring in balanced and healthy humour in class. I have also taken the self-paced VLE Masterclass, it has roped in different and interesting practical techniques to keeping learners engaged in virtual classroom. Thank you Dr. Ruby for your contribution in helping us to empower our teachers. It will surely go a long way!!!!
- Ms. Shilpa Hiwale
Head Mistress – Primary Section
C P Goenka International School
Thane, Mumbai - India
The session conducted by Dr Ruby Bakshi Khurdi was very insightful and made absolute sense in terms of the Principles and their application.” I am thankful to her for the conducting the session on Humour in Pedagogy for the teachers of our school. “This session did a great job providing actionable concepts in a way that encouraged instant application in classrooms. I have also taken the self- paced VLE Master class, and learnt various innovative techniques to engage the learners on online platform.
- Ms Preeti Pasricha
Academic Coordinator – Primary Section
C P Goenka International School
Thane, Mumbai - India
Unleash Human Values - A Web Talk at Gitarattan International Business School (GIBS)
The National Service Scheme Unit of Gitarattan International Business School (GIBS) invited me to deliver a web talk, “Unleash Human Values, on 3rd September 2021. The talk focused on various forms of truth, values, non-violence, peace, and positive attitude. I also explained how various forms of ethical values can help an individual to handle failures effectively. The seminar was attended by an enthusiastic set of 100 + people including the Dean, Head of the institution, teachers, and students.
Ruby is an inspiring woman with a spark. I connected with her over GIBS NSS Web Talk on "Unleash Human Values" and the connect was instant. Very seldom you meet people who are experienced, knowledgable and yet grounded. Ruby is one such person. She will make you feel comfortable in a flash of time no matter what age group you belong to and that was very evident in her session with our GIBS community. She is unstoppable. I am grateful that we met virtually and will look forward to meet her face to face in near future.
Prachi Jindal
Dean, Corporate Affairs
Gitarattan International Business School,
Delhi, India
Educators at GIBS share their thoughts on my VLE Program
A remarkable session focused on enhancing the effectiveness of virtual learning environments was held. It highlights the value of gamification in helping students strengthen their team-building and problem-solving skills, among other abilities. Additionally, this course sheds focus on problem-based learning, which keeps learners engaged and connected to the group while also promoting critical thinking. The usage of various tools enables the audience to contribute value to their educational activity. In general, I found the session to be both educational and engaging. We appreciate your inventive and novel approaches to problem-based learning, gamification, and instructional technologies.
- Manisha Kaushal Arora, Assistant Professor
The online course designed by Dr. Ruby Bakshi Khurdi gave the opportunity of enhancing the online teaching learning skills. The module was designed in several parts and was very interactive and interesting. The virtual tour of the whole course provides insights into the various online learning environments and guides about real and practical techniques which are really helpful in online teaching learning. Specially the Throw a Ball approach and gamification would help teachers in making their class interactive and keep the learner/students active. It also emphasized on how to grab the attention of students and was really very useful.”
- Rajesh Makol, Assistant Professor
This workshop on Virtual Learning Environment is very insightful and will help educators to properly handle the demands of virtual teaching by adopting the creative gaming techniques to make the learning more interactive and easy.
- Dr. Sneha Chaudhry Assistant Professor
A program that has reached far and wide, to create a larger impact. 50+ educators from CP Goenka School are now certified in Virtual Learning
Testimonials by headmistress, coordinator and teachers of the CP Goenka School, Thane, who’ve benefited from my VLE Program.
It was indeed a pleasure to have Dr. Ruby K with us. She conducted a session with our teachers on the topic ’Humour in Pedagogy' - indeed need of the hour with the gloomy pandemic situation around us all. I liked the simple yet innovative strategies put forth by Dr. Ruby. It can be easily used by our teachers to bring in balanced and healthy humour in class. I have also taken the self-paced VLE Masterclass, it has roped in different and interesting practical techniques to keeping learners engaged in virtual classroom. Thank you Dr. Ruby for your contribution in helping us to empower our teachers. It will surely go a long way!!!!
- Ms. Shilpa Hiwale
Head Mistress – Primary Section
C P Goenka International School
Thane, Mumbai - India
The session conducted by Dr Ruby Bakshi Khurdi was very insightful and made absolute sense in terms of the Principles and their application.” I am thankful to her for the conducting the session on Humour in Pedagogy for the teachers of our school. “This session did a great job providing actionable concepts in a way that encouraged instant application in classrooms. I have also taken the self- paced VLE Master class, and learnt various innovative techniques to engage the learners on online platform.
- Ms Preeti Pasricha
Academic Coordinator – Primary Section
C P Goenka International School
Thane, Mumbai - India
My book on ‘How To Engage Learners In A Virtual Learning Environment’ has been garnering positive reviews from educators all around the world.
Want to make learning fun and create an emotionally safe virtual environment for your students? Get your hands on my book, ‘How To Engage Learners In A Virtual Learning Environment’. This book documents effective teaching methods that apply in the virtual world - based on my actual experience. Click here to buy.
Dr Ruby is an amazing mentor & guide! I feel super proud holding the very 1st copy of my sister who is an institution in herself! The techniques of engaging learners in virtual meetings I am going to follow religiously & Rock my virtual meetings!
- Reema Bakshi Wattal, Stafford, UK
We thoroughly enjoyed reading the very 1st book of Dr Ruby! She explains in a very simple manner how educators can create a fun learning environment even in virtual classrooms. She is like our daughter & we are very proud of her for this accomplishment!
Nancy & Autar Tikou, Geneva
I recommend this book to all educators, trainers, speakers, anyone and everyone who is using virtual platforms to cope with the new normal during the pandemic.
Titia Niehorster, Rotterdam
This book by Dr Ruby Bakshi Khurdi is a survival kit for anyone who wishes to provide a successful virtual learning platform in these unprecedented times of Covid-19. I am a Microsoft Trainer and have been training for the last 25 years and managed to pick up some very useful tips and tricks from this book. I wish Ruby all the success and am looking forward to the next version of this book
Raj Rawat
Unleash Human Values - A Web Talk at Gitarattan International Business School (GIBS)
The National Service Scheme Unit of Gitarattan International Business School (GIBS) invited me to deliver a web talk, “Unleash Human Values, on 3rd September 2021. The talk focused on various forms of truth, values, non-violence, peace, and positive attitude. I also explained how various forms of ethical values can help an individual to handle failures effectively. The seminar was attended by an enthusiastic set of 100 + people including the Dean, Head of the institution, teachers, and students.
Ruby is an inspiring woman with a spark. I connected with her over GIBS NSS Web Talk on "Unleash Human Values" and the connect was instant. Very seldom you meet people who are experienced, knowledgable and yet grounded. Ruby is one such person. She will make you feel comfortable in a flash of time no matter what age group you belong to and that was very evident in her session with our GIBS community. She is unstoppable. I am grateful that we met virtually and will look forward to meet her face to face in near future.
Prachi Jindal
Dean, Corporate Affairs
Gitarattan International Business School,
Delhi, India
Educators at GIBS share their thoughts on my VLE Program
A remarkable session focused on enhancing the effectiveness of virtual learning environments was held. It highlights the value of gamification in helping students strengthen their team-building and problem-solving skills, among other abilities. Additionally, this course sheds focus on problem-based learning, which keeps learners engaged and connected to the group while also promoting critical thinking. The usage of various tools enables the audience to contribute value to their educational activity. In general, I found the session to be both educational and engaging. We appreciate your inventive and novel approaches to problem-based learning, gamification, and instructional technologies.
- Manisha Kaushal Arora, Assistant Professor
The online course designed by Dr. Ruby Bakshi Khurdi gave the opportunity of enhancing the online teaching learning skills. The module was designed in several parts and was very interactive and interesting. The virtual tour of the whole course provides insights into the various online learning environments and guides about real and practical techniques which are really helpful in online teaching learning. Specially the Throw a Ball approach and gamification would help teachers in making their class interactive and keep the learner/students active. It also emphasized on how to grab the attention of students and was really very useful.”
- Rajesh Makol, Assistant Professor
This workshop on Virtual Learning Environment is very insightful and will help educators to properly handle the demands of virtual teaching by adopting the creative gaming techniques to make the learning more interactive and easy.
- Dr. Sneha Chaudhry Assistant Professor
My book on ‘How To Engage Learners In A Virtual Learning Environment’ has been garnering positive reviews from educators all around the world.
Want to make learning fun and create an emotionally safe virtual environment for your students? Get your hands on my book, ‘How To Engage Learners In A Virtual Learning Environment’. This book documents effective teaching methods that apply in the virtual world - based on my actual experience. Click here to buy.
Dr Ruby is an amazing mentor & guide! I feel super proud holding the very 1st copy of my sister who is an institution in herself! The techniques of engaging learners in virtual meetings I am going to follow religiously & Rock my virtual meetings!
- Reema Bakshi Wattal, Stafford, UK
We thoroughly enjoyed reading the very 1st book of Dr Ruby! She explains in a very simple manner how educators can create a fun learning environment even in virtual classrooms. She is like our daughter & we are very proud of her for this accomplishment!
Nancy & Autar Tikou, Geneva
I recommend this book to all educators, trainers, speakers, anyone and everyone who is using virtual platforms to cope with the new normal during the pandemic.
Titia Niehorster, Rotterdam
This book by Dr Ruby Bakshi Khurdi is a survival kit for anyone who wishes to provide a successful virtual learning platform in these unprecedented times of Covid-19. I am a Microsoft Trainer and have been training for the last 25 years and managed to pick up some very useful tips and tricks from this book. I wish Ruby all the success and am looking forward to the next version of this book
Raj Rawat