Jagjit Plahe
Faculty of Business and Economics
Creating safe spaces for student interaction and class discussion
Jagjit hopes her students remember the importance of mindfulness and kindness in dealing with challenges and in interactions with people and the environment in which they live.
What are you doing differently in your field that you believe is driving real change?
Decolonising the curriculum.
Designing curriculum materials which strongly link theory to practice.
Designing curriculum materials which address a stronger understanding of challengingproblems and how they can be addressed.
Designing assessment approaches which require students to be highly creative.
Designing classes that require a level of interaction.
Creating safe spaces for student interaction and class discussion.
How do you help students build confidence, not just knowledge?
I build an atmosphere in class where students feel safe and comfortable to debate ideas.
I encourage students to present and share their ideas in class.
I try to instill confidence in students by giving them feedback which helps them in building a whole range of skills including critical thinking.
I strongly encourage peer-to-peer education and learning.
I encourage students to be proud of where they come from, their cultural background and what they stand for.
I am someone whose role is to inspire students to learn, and to equip them with the skills and the mindset to become changemakers in this world. ”
What do you hope your students take away from their time with you? Is there a student moment you’ll never forget, and why?
Of course an understanding of the subject and all that we covered during the semester.
A strong vision of justice and equity.
Deep listening, where students listen to each other.
The importance of Indigenous ways of knowing and doing.
Feeling proud of who they are as people."
What do you hope your students remember about you 10 years from now?
They remember me for instilling rigour in the work they do.
They remember me for the importance of mindfulness and kindness in dealing with challenging problems and in interacting with people and the environment in which they live.
I want them to be change leaders in their own right.
What legacy or ripple effect do you hope to leave behind?
Whatever the students learn, they pass it on to others through the work they do, how they operate in their own families, workplace and society at large.
What would surprise your younger self most about what you do now?
How much I enjoy marking creative assessments.
How energised I feel after every class.
How much I look forward to working with a new set of students each semester.
How much I miss my classes once the semester is over.
What motivates you to continue pushing boundaries in your work?
The enthusiasm of students.
The honest feedback of students of what works well and what does not.
How would you explain your role to someone who’s never met a university educator?
I am someone whose role is to inspire students to learn, and to equip them with the skills and the mindset to become change makers in this world.
What does being a teacher allow you to do that nothing else can? Was there a moment you realised that your work as an educator goes beyond what happens in the classroom?
I was awarded the 2020 Monash Graduation Association (MGA) Lecturer of the Year Award in the middle of the pandemic. It was an award that I was not aware of, and one that I had not applied for. Students nominated me and I realised then that students take with them so much more than just the curriculum material. They feel inspired to do their best in the world.