People and Events that Changed the Course of My Dad’s — and My — Life Journeys — My dad, Appa, was four when he lost his mother. The time and geography of relevance are 1939 British India. My grandmother, twenty-five years old and pregnant for the fifth time, died during delivery alongside her stillborn child. Her older sister Gopi, who was childless, valiantly swooped in and took…

The Role of Body Language and Emotional Intelligence in Teaching — Emphasized in academia and prized in the workplace, the pre-requisite skills of verbal, written, and interpersonal communication have helped us adapt to an ever-changing world of expectations. …

Tips for Teaching by Zoom — Of all my secret teenage fantasies, the one that I projected the most was me being on screen. It took approximately 35 years, but that fantasy materialized into reality in March 2020 when teaching unexpectedly went online. …

Tips for Setting up Canvas Modules for In-person, Blended, or Online Courses — A roadmap for student success, Canvas is one of the most popular learning management systems (LMS) used in academia today. Canvas is used just as easily for blended or online courses as it is for in-person courses. This post is not a training workshop on Canvas. Your best resource in…

An Asian American’s Hate Antidote — I was born cloaked in privilege. My parents were a lower-middle-class family in India, but what they bequeathed to me was a cultural heritage rich in education, values, and traditions. …

Engaged Learning Practices for In-person, Blended, and Online Courses — As an instructor at a public university, I’m always exploring the next thing that can motivate students to take greater responsibility for their learning. As an engineering instructor, I’m always looking for case studies, videos, TED Talks, subject speakers, and hands-on project ideas that can help crystallize complex, technical concepts…

A Coincidental Pivot During the Pandemic — The iPad has been an indispensable teaching tool for me, especially in the recent transition to online instruction. Interestingly enough, my objective behind my iPad purchase had little to do with the pandemic. At the time, I was nursing an irritated shoulder resulting from calcific tendonitis. The range of motion…

An Imperative for a Mindset Reset? — This post is not about rehashing what’s already on the news. Rather, it’s a call to action for disaster preparedness. Nonetheless, a brief introduction to the brewing crisis is in order. India is dealing with a sudden spike in Covid cases. India’s Covid infection rate is at a record high…

Happy Earth Day, 2021! — Growing up in post-colonial India, in an era that prefaced conveniences such as running water, 24/7 electricity, and electronic gadgets and appliances, I learned about food economics before I learned the ABCs. My lower-middle-class family — my parents, brother, and me — had enough to satiate our hunger, sans any…