ELO Technology Reinventing Classroom Learning for EMBA Students
Accelerating the career journey in the fast-paced world has become a huge challenge. But even during uncertain COVID-19 times, our EMBA students have made wise decisions to step back and concretise their business foundations and widen their skills to be relevant in the industry. To understand how technology can augment classroom learning to upskill working professionals, we caught up with EMBA alumnus Priyanku Bora and current student Haridhra Shankar.
Gaining the right momentum for my career goal with EMBA- Priyanku Bora
After graduating in 2006, I started my career in sales. In 2020, when everything was uncertain during the pandemic, I realised I had the perfect time to step back and build my skillset to accelerate my career journey. My priorities were quality education in an online format powered by advanced technology, coursework focusing on a range of skill sets and real-world applications, and diversity in the classroom. SP Jain Global was the only business school that had check-listed all my priorities, and hence, I made it my next milestone.
In product development, I have to often interact with the marketing department. Despite communicating about the same thing because of the technical language, miscommunications would often happen. However, after going through the marketing course, the communication in my organisation is seamless as I understand the depth of another function’s approach.
Understanding how EMBA will give me the required momentum for my career goal helped me plan the sacrifices I have to make to receive that. Having a conversation with the people around me who will be affected brought all the stakeholders together, making it a shared goal instead of my personal goal even before I started my course. With the objective and commitment established, I could navigate through a work-life-study balance by accepting midnight class timings because of my time zone.
Expand my network and knowledge inside and outside the classroom – Haridhra Shankar
During the COVID-19 outbreak, I had to climb the career ladder within my organisation, and I realised an EMBA would give me the clarity and growth required for higher managerial roles. At that point, I did not have the time or option of moving to a different city to pursue a full-time program. I came across SP Jain Global’s online EMBA program, and I believe, it gives me the credibility to pursue the course alongside managing a full-time job and other activities. Considering the ELO technology and skillset I could develop from the curriculum, I made the choice.
My cohort was multidimensional, and I had the opportunity to interact with professionals from varied functions like operations and manufacturing. With the group projects, I could get a flavour of how professionals from different functions think and approach a problem. Being one of the junior professionals in my cohort, I could expand my network and knowledge in the classroom alongside learning. I was not exposed to finance and accounting before my EMBA. While learning from these courses over the weekend from the immediate Monday, I was able to apply them in my organisation, which led to additional roles in those areas.
My greatest challenge was collaborating with peers who were equally correct in their approach and thought process. The decision-making process in the stipulated 15-20 minutes in the classroom was a great challenge. Going through these decisions, I learnt how to agree to disagree and articulate different viewpoints while presenting to the Professor.
Priyanku and Haridhra consider ELO technology as a boon for their quality classroom interactions. The faculty’s ability to view the entire class at once enhanced their discussion flow and engagement level. The students feel all their interactions were conversational owing to the spontaneity of ELO to adapt from the discussion flow to focus on an interesting perspective that has been put forward. With features that mimic the face-to-face classroom better than human interactions, our students have a spectacular learning journey in the EMBA program.
About Priyanku Bora and Haridhra Shankar
Priyanku Bora (EMBA 2022) has 16 years of experience in leading technical programs with deep insight into the area of product development particularly in the manufacturing domain. Having worked across 3 different countries (India, the Philippines, and the US), Priyanku is currently working as a Principal Engineer with Bloom Energy in Silicon Valley, leading an agile group of engineers.
On the other hand, Haridhra Shankar (EMBA intake of 2021) is currently working as a Program Manager for retail business services at Amazon. Her expertise is in retail and e-commerce organisations. She began her professional journey as a developer and shifted to product and program management roles. She predominantly works on launching products that benefit sellers across the marketplaces.
