The academic approach of the courses focuses on the “work-centric” education i.e. begin with work (and not from a book!), derive knowledge from work and apply that knowledge to make the work more wholesome, useful and delightful. The ultimate objective is to empower the Learner to engage in socially useful and productive work. It aims at leading the learner to his/her rewarding career as an employee or entrepreneur as well as development of the community to which s/he belongs. Learning methodology:

• Step -1: Learners are given an overview of the course and its connection to life and work.

• Step -2: Learners are exposed to the specific tool(s) used in the course through the various real-life applications of the tool(s).

• Step -3: Learners are acquainted with the careers and the hierarchy of roles they can perform at workplaces after attaining increasing levels of mastery over the tool(s).

• Step -4: Learners are acquainted with the architecture of the tool or tool map so as to appreciate various parts of the tool, their functions, utility and inter-relations.

• Step -5: Learners are exposed to simple application development methodology by using the tool at the beginner’s level.

• Step -6: Learners perform the differential skills related to the use of the tool to improve the given ready-made industry-standard outputs.

• Step -7: Learners are engaged in appreciation of real-life case studies developed by the experts.

• Step -8: Learners are encouraged to proceed from appreciation to imitation of the experts.

• Step -9: After the imitation experience, they are required to improve the expert’s outputs so that they proceed from mere imitation to emulation.

• Step-10: Emulation is taken a level further from working with differential skills towards the visualization and creation of a complete output according to the requirements provided. (Long Assignments)

• Step-11: Understanding the requirements, communicating one’s own thoughts and presenting are important skills required in facing an interview for securing a work order/job. For instilling these skills, learners are presented with various subject-specific technical as well as HR-oriented questions and encouraged to answer them.

• Step-12: Finally, they develop the integral skills involving optimal methods and best practices to produce useful outputs right from scratch, publish them in their ePortfolio and thereby proceed from emulation to self-expression, from self-expression to self-confidence and from self-confidence to self-reliance and self-esteem!