Meet the Minds: Sesha Srinivasan Blends Innovation with Empathy in the Engineering Classroom

Meet the Minds is a new monthly series designed to profile McMaster University’s scholars and their work in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am an Associate professor at W Booth School. I am the chair of Software Engineering Technology program and also the endowed chair of the Engineering/Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. I teach courses in math, programming, and more recently in business management. I have always been excited about providing transformational learning education for my students. The environment within the Booth School provided the right impetus for me to engage in SoTL to continuously refine my classroom pedagogical strategies to provide an optimal learning environment.

Can you describe your SoTL research focus?

I recognize that the learning needs of students vary and so my quest is to provide a flexible and empathetic learning environment for all my students. At the core of this is McMaster’s EDI framework that I incorporate in my teaching as well as leadership roles. My pedagogical work helps students learn at a time and place of their choosing, providing them with the most flexible education environment that is suited for their learning style. I also actively engage in designing and developing forward looking curriculum with modern pedagogical schema for an optimal delivery of topics, helping students imbibe an array of skills and competencies for immediate deployment at workplace. I work with my colleagues within and outside McMaster to develop these approaches.

What are some key insights or outcomes from your research?

In my experience, students want to learn and experience the essence of the discipline. Under my leadership, the Software Engineering Technology is offered as a fully online undergraduate program, foundations of which were laid by my predecessor. In addressing student anxiety levels associated with assessments, a ubiquitous problem, I conceived the Residency Model of education that is now offered by all courses in this program. This model emphasizes learning, discovery, innovation, and exploration. In this pioneering approach at the Faculty of Engineering, grades have been completely abolished, and this has significantly deflated students’ anxiety levels with assessments, encouraging them to take more risks and explorations in their education journey. In my opinion, this is a major transformation that can significantly benefit other programs at McMaster, helping us graduate innovative minds who will lead our society.

What advice do you have for others interested in SoTL?

Being passionate about teaching and being empathetic towards students’ educational needs will naturally make you inquisitive about improving your pedagogical strategies. This is the stepping stone to SoTL. Engaging with like-minded people on campus helps. It is important to be patient and to recognize that propagating change through the system takes time.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I am excited about the launch of the reimagined version of the Masters in Engineering/ Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation program.

If you are interested to speaking further with Sesha Srinivasan about their SoTL research, please contact them at ssriniv@mcmaster.ca.