Department of MCA at RV College of Engineering organizes National Conference on Critical Thinking for GenZ – A Multi-Disciplinary Approach
Bengaluru : The Department of Master of Computer Applications (MCA) at RV College of Engineering organized a National Conference on ‘Critical Thinking for GenZ – A multidisciplinary approach (CTGZMA) in association with ISTE, New Delhi. The event was sponsored by AICTE under the Grants for Organizing Conferences (GOC) 2020-21 scheme.
The conference took critical thinking, an important aspect of NEP 2020, and stressed its benefits for the current generation. It is a highly desirable skill that plays an important role in the education sector. To develop a deep understanding of the foundations of critical thinking, a long-term approach to learning and applying those foundations in multidisciplinary areas like Science, Engineering, Humanities, Health care, Research, Education etc. must be addressed in the best possible way. This conference was aimed at providing a dais for educators, learners, researchers, and employers to share their opinion on the topic. The two-day event was inaugurated by Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE in the presence of Dr. Pratapsinh Kakaso Desai, President, ISTE, Dr. K. N Subramanya, Principal, RVCE, Dr. Andhe Dharani, Director, Department of MCA, Dr. Shanmukha Nagaraj, Dean Academics and Dr. Jasmine. K. S, the conference coordinator.
Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE said, “We need critical thinking to transform digital information to knowledge and find the right solutions. The questioning pattern in our education system must be changed so that the students are trained to think, analyze, and apply the learned concept. The world is changing drastically which is why we need a curriculum revision so that we can include courses on relevant topics like IoT, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence. I appreciate the initiative taken by the university to select and introduce relevant topics in this conference as it is a first-of-its-kind event that has been organized by a higher education institution. Critical thinking is an ability that is not just required for engineering students, but all the young citizens of India.”
Dr. Pratapsinh Kakaso Desai, President, ISTE said, “Critical thinking is of utmost importance. In India, the conversion rate of research into products is minimal because society does not encourage the youth to become entrepreneurs, instead only insists on becoming employees in an organization. It is high time we provide the youth of the nation good education as well as oral support in taking small risks to become an entrepreneur. Thinking is the most important element in education, which is sadly missing. A country is heavily reliant on its youth. We need to break the education policies introduced by Macaulay in 1842 if we want our country to be self-sustainable.”
Dr. K. N. Subramanya, Principal, RVCE said, “Decision making in any field should be done with facts, evidence and the solutions should always be context-based. As a first step towards the implementation of the critical thinking aspect, RV College of Engineering has introduced a course on Design Thinking for second-year students. We are also striving towards the integration of Liberal Arts with Science and Engineering. There is so much data available that restricting fields is not the solution anymore. We must work on converting data to knowledge, knowledge to information, and information to wisdom.”