With changing times the paradigm of technical education is also changing. These days students have more options / distractions than they had earlier. So, to keep them motivated one has to be innovative. There has been a sea-change in pedagogy. The chalk-and-talk method is now passé. Learning through activities is the "buzz" word. Technical festivals are a juncture for novel ideas, intellectual stimulation, social awareness, creativity, cultural activities and the most important thing for having fun!
College Technical festivals play an important role in shaping up thought process of a student. It provides them with a platform to showcase the talent acquired through education and put it into practice. These events also give a chance of learning and understanding the latest advances in technology. Now a day’s all reputed engineering institutes and colleges regularly conduct technical festivals. Even private engineering colleges are not far behind in this endeavour. Many corporate houses and companies vie to sponsor technical festivals of Institutes situated in metros or industrial zones. However institutes situated in backwater areas are left high and dry regarding sponsorship. Technical festivals are intra institute event. Even students from abroad participate in technical festivals organized by IITs. Usually the technical festivals last 3 to 4 days. The activities include paper presentation of studies or projects undertaken by students, workshops, video conferences and seminars conducted by experts. A lot of competitive events like technical and business quizzes, scientific and technical model making contest, design contests, robotics, programming events, instrumentations and structures related contest are part of any technical festivals. Many of the events and competitions are on line. The competitions, lecture series, exhibitions and workshops expose students to the latest research in developing cutting edge technology. The most important aspect of technical festivals is that it is managed entirely by students.
A lot of science and technology extension and communication activities are also undertaken during these festivals. Generally, schools nearby the host technical institutes are invited to take part in various events designed for their level in any such festival. The events for school students include science exhibitions, quizzes, mathematics talent hunt and origami etc. Mind you origami is not just the humble paper folding activity to make airplanes, boats or other toys. There are designs which take more than 100 folds and hours at stretch. I feel origami is a must for structures, architecture and other design enthusiasts. There are experts like Mr. VSS Sastry and Mr. Arvind Gupta who conduct origami workshops to teach mathematics and geometry to school kids. Young students get a chance to interact and see the latest happenings in technical arena. This will help them in choosing a particular career in later life. The main aim of the technical festivals is to give a platform to the budding and young talent to showcase and compete against the best in the country. To my mind this is one of the most important contributions of technical festivals to society. Social events like blood donation camps and handicraft exhibition are also a part of many technical festivals.
In short technical festivals are a conglomerate of good things and good practices. These festivals are very popular amongst academicians and professionals as well. Technical festivals aim to bridge the gap between the very diverse technical and cultural elements and from their confluence create an experience that last for a long time.
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