Mohan Palani is an Academic Habits Coach and Doctoral Research Fellow at University of Hyderabad and Research fellowship Awardee of University Grants Commission (UGC). He has been extensively working on Experiential learning methods and Academic habits for the last five years to improve marks and grades of students and designing productive habits techniques to become successful at academic life and conducts workshops, seminars and personal counselling sessions to strengthen young peoples’ will power. He is passionate about guiding students in career selection, setting achievable goals, performing their best in the exams and career.
He joined in the University of Hyderabad as Doctoral Research Fellow in the year 2016 and associated with two International and one National Research Project so far. The first International Project was “Research on Youth Employment Issues and Human Capital Development for APO Economies” funded by Asian Productivity Organization (APO), Japan which was completed in 2017 along with Prof. V.Venkata Ramana, Vice Chairman, Telangana State Council of Higher Education, National Expert and Professor Mahendra Dev S, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research (IGIDR), Mumbai, Chief expert.
The second International project was “Research on Public Policy Innovation for Human Capital Development” funded by Asian Productivity Organization, Japan, which is under progress. The third one is a National project on “Employment and Employability of Higher Education Graduates in India” funded by Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education (CPRHE), National University of Educational Planning and Administration(NUEPA) along with Prof. Mona Khare, Professor and Head, Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education, NUEPA. As a part of this project, he conducted interviews with top level managers in MNCs and Deans, Directors, and Vice – Chancellors of different institutions.
Mohan Palani is a rank holder in Pondicherry University Entrance test and stood amongst the top 5 best students in MBA Program. He actively participated in sports and also his team was adjudged as runner up along with his team in the National level competition conducted by School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, Central University of Jammu.
Mohan Palani was conferred the Star of Vizianagaram Award in the year 2012 which was a district level multi-talent competition conducted by Rotary Club International in collaboration with SVN group Pvt ltd.
He is associated and working with his mentor and supervisor Prof. V. Venkata Ramana, Vice Chairman, Telangana State Council of Higher Education and is involved in drafting of various reports related to Higher Education in Telangana State like Telangana State Higher Education Plan T-2024 and Perspective Plan for Technical Education (PPTE 2017) which have been widely been appreciated by many agencies both Government and Private sectors.
Problems vary from student to student. If the student is aware about his/her problem, the problem is half solved. This forms the first phase of Coaching includes –Identifying problems in the student’s academic life which are bothering them and hampering the progress of marks and grades. Different questionnaires are administered to understand the ground level problems of students and then analyses data using qualitative and quantitative methods to figure out student’s areas of strengths and weaknesses and to find out his/her own areas where there is a scope for improvement. Student analysis is the first phase in coaching, based on which selective working sessions are suggested.
Analysis of student gives an overall understanding about his/her Academic life. After discussion with student and parents, the Coach selects the working sessions which has content to be taught and mini-assignments. These assignments are simplified tasks of few minutes which would become part of their life as a daily routine. Assignments are unique in nature, which are entirely different from school homework and especially they are pen & paper less tasks. Majority of these tasks can be completed by students on their own at school itself.
Every student’s performance and progress is recorded by the Coach Team. Depending up on the assignment, student gets phone calls after the school hours to record and monitor the improvement either on a daily basis or weekly basis.
very person is different, outcomes also differ for the same assignment. After assessment of tasks for a month, the Coach identifies what are the things to be worked out and gives expected results in terms of hurdles which are hampering the growth. According to the student’s capacity and capability, the Coach alters the assignments till they achieve their objective.
Many students either don’t focus on their academic life or have too many over ambitious academic goals that spoil their academic life happiness. Students are advised to take up one or two tasks at a time and try to implement them in their daily life and inculcate academic habits as their part of life. At the end of this process, students get habituated to improving their academic skills. After becoming successful at one habit, student is given free hand to select another academic habit and inculcate it in his/her life. If they understand the process behind acquiring a habit two or three times, then they will be in a position to bring positive changes in their life at any point of life. As an Academic Habit Coach, Mohan Palani aims at making students to be self-competent in programming and reprogramming their brains according to their goals.