Dr. Anju Pandey is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies. In an interview conducted by Campus Ambassador Abhilasha Rai, Dr. Pandey discusses how UPES has adapted to the Covid pandemic, her own reasons for joining academia, and a whole lot more.
How has UPES dealt with the impact of covid-19?
At UPES, digital infrastructure to support virtual education was already in place, although it was used for select purposes. During pandemic, basic training of the faculties to engage in face-to-face virtual classes on Blackboard LMS made this transformation from brick and mortar classrooms to virtual classrooms so smooth.
In addition, UPES offered faculties free online courses available on courser especially related to virtual education, which make learning for the faculty to engage students in virtual learning atmosphere very effortlessly. Since that time, UPES facilitated all of us to upgrade ourselves in required skills to create the same impact in virtual learning environment as in brick mortar classrooms.
What motivated you to choose teaching law as a profession and how has been the journey so far?
It happened, when I was pursuing LL.M. From BBAU, Central University Lucknow. I was enjoying learning law as in our curriculum at BBAU there were 13 Seminars and one mega seminar, in which we have to do research and present before Professors and Ph.D. scholars including classmates. I really enjoyed this way of learning, which gave me many opportunities to learn presentation skills.
For every seminar, I started putting sincere efforts to make myself able to answer queries. In addition, one more challenge, which I took myself, was that I started making presentations without taking help of any, written material in my hand. My teachers always gave me support, free learning environment and appreciation.
Therefore, from there, I decided to be a part of academics and crack UGC NET and qualified CUCET to pursue Ph.D. and immediately after completion of Ph.D. I joined UPES. My journey at UPES is fantastic and I am grateful to be part of UPES in the very beginning of my career.
What has been your experience as a professor taking online classes during this pandemic?
My online teaching experience is good and is becoming better day by day. This experience is a direct outcome of the training, which I had gone through at UPES. Because I understand, the necessity to use different set of pedagogy to engage my students online.
I am using both synchronous and asynchronous medium to upgrade my learner’s knowledge and skills. This could not be possible without the equal support and willingness on the part of the students. Our students at UPES have shown their agility to adjust themselves in new learning environment. In addition to this, training of the faculty at UPES in becoming hands on with new online learning tools is a continuous exercise.
That keeps us abreast with the latest trends in online education prevalent in some of the top-notch universities across the globe. This facilitated joining of UPES into the elite group of institutions called Great Place to Work.
You are the faculty convener of the Moot Court Association of UPES. How has the moot court association adapted to the current situation due to the pandemic and how has that adaptation turned out to be?
At UPES, Moot court Association is fulfilling its responsibilities by inculcating mooting culture in School of Law with same passion and even with greater intensity. In 2020, during pandemic, MCA organised 11 events, including mooting workshops, webinars, national and international mooting events.
This could be possible for MCA, because of two reasons; one is MCA’s student committee and another digital support we are getting from the institution. I can proudly say that MCA has taken covid-19 scenario as an opportunity to build new and vast networks with luminaries in the field of law.
What is your advice to law students who are interested in mooting on how to make the most of the online moot competitions?
My advice to all the law students, even if they are not interested in mooting, is that they should experience mooting at least once because while students playing court room scene in simulated mode learn host of skills and nuances of arguing a point of law in real courts.
Therefore, whatever profession one wants to choose, these skills will help him/her to differentiate from others in terms of employability and clarity of the discipline of law.
In addition, my advice to those students who are interested in mooting, is to do in-depth research of the given mooting problem. In mooting research is the backbone, it will automatically build up confidence in mooters to present their case in an arguable manner. Even online mooting brings lots of opportunity to target international mooting competitions also thereby increasing their employability globally.