Amity Medical School, Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, organized a Faculty Development Program in Technology-Enabled Teaching and Learning in Food Science and Nutrition held between July 24 and July 28, 2023.
The FDP Was organized with the following objectives: to provide an understanding of various ICTs and how they work and integrate them into their teaching practices for fostering conceptual learning in the field of food science and nutrition.
- To promote adaptability by enabling teachers to quickly learn new technologies and apply their digital skills and competencies in a variety of learning situations and contexts.
- To improve communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with students and colleagues using digital tools such as Artificial intelligence, the use of the latest software related to the concerned subject, virtual and augmented reality, and other emerging trends that could have an impact on teaching and learning in the future.
- To develop digital skills pertaining to online safety and privacy issues and how to teach students to navigate online environments responsibly.
- Overall, the course will equip teachers with the necessary skills to navigate the digital age of education and enable them to effectively integrate digital tools and technologies in various domains of Nutrition science.
The first day of the event started with the name of Almighty God to enlighten the path of knowledge. The opening address was given by Prof. Sanjana Vij, Program Director, Amity Academic Staff College Head, Centre of Excellence for Innovation in Education, Amity University Haryana. Prof. Vij has given a brief introduction to the topic and summarized the need for technology-based teaching and learning in the field of food science and nutrition briefly.
Dr. Luxita Sharma, Director, AMS and HOD, Department of Dietetics and Applied Nutrition, welcomes all the dignitaries and participants. She also briefed the audience on the topic of the FDP, shared some of her life experiences in the field of clinical nutrition and academics without technology, and shed light on the benefits of digitalization in the nutrition field. She also welcomed Dr. Amaredra Pani, Joint Director and Director (In Charge), Research Division, AIU. Dr. Pani congratulated the organizers of the FDP and motivated them to continue with such informative and unprecedented topics for the FDP in the future. The session was continued with the insightful words of Dr. Gaurav Bhardwajby, HOD, Department of Optometry, AMS, who applauded the FDP organizing team with wholeheartedness. The whole session was enlightened with the presence of the Guest of Honor, Ms. Sandhya Pandey, Chief Dietician, Medanta-The Medicity Hospital, Gurugram. In her session on "Use of Digital Technology in Clinical Nutrition and its Application in Hospitals", Ms. Sandhya emphasized benefits like personalized nutrition, improved patient monitoring, improved communication, and collaboration. She gave in-depth knowledge about the use of software-assisted delivery of nutrition, nutritional risk screening, and food service delivery through digital menu planning like EMR. The digital form of NRS 2002 can be used for research purposes by the faculty and our research scholars. After this informative lecture, the session was paused for the lunch break. The session was resumed with the introduction of Dr. Vijay Kumar, Associate Professor, Dept. of ASLP, AMS, and AUH. Dr. Vijay gave an insightful lecture on "Application of Technology in the Teaching and Learning Process. Dr. Vijay introduced the topic and provided practical aspects of digitalization in the teaching and learning process. From the types of learning modalities to TLP goal setting, Dr. Vijay elaborated on every topic in a very interesting way. After every session, speakers helped the participants clear their doubts. At the end of the session, Feedback forms and assignments were provided to participants. The first day of the Faculty Development Program was successfully held with approximately 95 active participants.
The first session of the 7th day was taken by Dr. Geeta Bisla, Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition from Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan. She has more than 24 years of experience in teaching.
The topic of the session was "Role of ICT in the Enhancement of Nutrition-Based Skills Among Learners." The total number of participants was 72, from different backgrounds. The session started with some brainstorming activities for participants. She asked, What is ICT? She has explained the importance of ICT in the field of Teaching for students as well as faculty based on nutrition skills. She also discussed the search engine for scientific research. She nicely explained the different online courses available since COVID, such as Swayam, Coursera, and MOOCs. Participants had the opportunity to learn how to use ICT in an effective manner in the teaching process. At the end of the session, she held a Q&A session where participants got the opportunity to clear their doubts by writing up questions that were answered during the session. Participants left positive feedback for her sessions.
The second session of the second day was taken by Dr. Deepti Verma. She is currently working as the nutrition head at VLCC. Dr. Verma is the recipient of the Women of Substance Award from the India Leadership Summit for Excellence in Education for the year 2023. Her enormous experience was also reflected in her session. Her topic was "New Approaches for Teaching in Food Science and Nutrition". This session was attended by 79 participants from different fields of teaching.
It was indeed an informative session for participants. She has discussed online tools regarding diet planning. Participants learned many key points of digitalization and also gained practical knowledge about staying healthy and fit. She also emphasizes how eating an apple a day keeps the doctor away. She explained the apple's contents, which contain more than 9000 phytochemicals, and also explained the effective use of magnesium and calcium in fat loss. She also discussed her life motto, "30 minutes walk is better than 30 minutes talk," over the phone. After her lecture, there was an interactive discussion session where participants got the opportunity to clear their doubts and discuss their queries. Participants left positive feedback for her session. This session was an enrichment of practical knowledge on new approaches to teaching in the field of Food Science and Nutrition.
The theme for the 3rd Day of FDP was Innovation in Technological Learning: Food Science and Nutrition. In the morning session, the first speaker was Dr. Mehak Sharma. The session started at 11:00 a.m. in Virtual mode using the Zoom platform. Dr. Mehak delivered her speech on the topic Insights on Current Advances in Food Science and Nutrition." Dr. Mehak Sharma is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at the Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies. She thoroughly discussed the utility of various advanced statistical tools and techniques like "SPSS" and "R Software in conducting various statistically significant research. She also talked about the significance of various qualitative and quantitative tests in the analysis of the research data. She also gave a demonstration of an Excel sheet to clear up the various doubts of participants about using statistical software. The overall session was very interactive and would certainly help each participant in their respective research areas. The question-and-answer session was being taken up after the enlightening and detailed lecture of Dr. Mehak Sharma, maam, and thereby the participants were requested to give their respective feedback for the event.
Thereafter, in the afternoon, a session was undertaken by Dr. Puneeta Ajmera at 2.00 p.m. on virtual mode. She was welcomed by Dr. Luxita Sharma, HOI, Dietetics and Applied Nutrition, Amity Medical School, Haryana. Dr. Puneeta delivered her speech on the topic "National Program for Technology-Enhanced Learning for the Students of Food Science and Nutrition". Dr. Puneeta Ajmera is an Associate Professor and is currently heading the school of allied sciences in
Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research University,
Govt. of NCT, New Delhi She delivered a very detailed speech on various government and private programs running currently in the Nation to enhance the technological learning of the people. The overall session was very informative, and participants immensely appreciated the speech and the content delivered by her. Finally, the session was closed with the thanks speech given by Dr. Luxita Sharma, and participants were thereby requested to submit their feedback forms.
The theme for the 4th Day of FDP was "Different Domains of ICT-Enabled Effective Nutrition Learning". In the morning session, the first speaker was Dr. Renu Shrestha. The session started at 10 a.m. in virtual mode using the Zoom Platform. Dr. Renu Shrestha delivered her speech on the topic Innovative Technologies in Food Product Development. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Amity University, Haryana. She thoroughly discussed several current innovations taking place in the respective domains of food science and Nutrition across the globe. She gave a very detailed and well-explained lecture, clearing the doubts of participants with real-life examples and citing relevant research studies. The overall session was very interactive and would certainly be useful for each of the participants with a food and nutrition background. The question-and-answer session was being taken up after the enlightening and detailed lecture of Dr. Renu Shrestha maam, and thereby the participants were requested to give their respective feedback for the event.
Thereafter, the session was continued with the lecture of our next esteemed speaker, Dr. Soumya Gupta, at 11.30 a.m. in virtual mode. She delivered her speech on the topic "National Program for Technology-Enhanced Learning for the Students of Food Science and Nutrition". Dr. Soumya Gupta is an Assistant Professor at the Senior Scale at the School of Health Sciences and Technology, UPES, Dehradun. She delivered a very detailed speech on various e-learning platforms, such as SWYAM and NPTEL, to uplift the learning process in today’s era. She thoroughly talked about the various courses offered by these e-platforms, which can be of great significance for participants belonging to multiple disciplines. The vast and detailed knowledge of Mam regarding various e-courses running currently in the Nation to enhance the technological learning of the people was truly commendable. The overall session was very informative, and participants immensely appreciated the speech and the content delivered by her. Finally, the session was closed with a thanks speech given by Dr. Luxita Sharma, HOI, Dietetics and Applied Nutrition, Amity Medical School, Haryana, and participants were thereby requested to submit their feedback forms.
Dr. Shilpa Thakur is the senior consultant Dietitian at Asian Hospital, and she holds the position of General Secretary at IDA and IAPEN, Delhi Chapter, and is also co-convener at Netprofan.
She delivered the lecture on the role of AI in clinical nutrition, and the session was indeed informative as she discussed the different AI tools used in the field of Clinical Nutrition. She also talked about the different mobile applications available for the management of different disease conditions like weight loss, diabetes, and gastroenteritis. She also provides insights into the features of current popular smartwatches relevant to clinical nutrition care. After her lecture, there was an interactive discussion session where participants got the opportunity to clear their doubts and discuss their queries. Participants left positive feedback for his session. This session was enriching in its knowledge of recent mobile applications and wearable technologies used for the management of various disease conditions.
The fifth day of the event started with the introduction of Dr. Gaurav Kumar Bhardwaj, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Amity Medical School, Amity University Haryana. Dr. Bhardwaj provides his valuable thoughts on the topic Technological Advancement of the Learning Process: Opportunities and Obstacles. He elaborates on the topic with various mobile and computer applications currently used by professionals. He showed demo videos of the applications for easy understanding by the participants. He not only briefed about the benefits of technological advancements but also showed the negative points of their application. Dr. Luxita Sharma, HOI, AMS, and HOD, Department of Dietetics and Applied Nutrition, applauded Dr. Bhardwaj for such an insightful lecture and thanked him for sparing his time and effort for the lecture.
After resuming the session after the lunch break, the event was started with a welcome and brief introduction of the last speaker of the session, Dr. Alka Joshi, who is an eminent Scientist (Senior scale) in the Food Technology Division of Food Science and Postharvest Technology.
ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI) She gave an insightful lecture on "Food Technology: Innovative Value-Addition Technologies for Horticultural Produce." She elaborates on all the technological advancements in the fields of nutrition and horticultural produce to eliminate the hidden hunger prevalent in the country. She showcased technically sophisticated machines and processing methodologies, using which nutritionally superior food products have been formulated in the laboratories. The whole session was witnessed by approximately 67 participants, who got the most benefit. Dr. Luxita Sharma congratulated Dr. Alka Joshi for delivering such an amazing lecture and thanked her for accepting the invitation as a speaker. Prof. Sanjana Vij, Program Director, Amity Academic Staff College Head, Centre of Excellence for Innovation in Education, Amity University Haryana, also thanked eminent speaker Dr. Alka Joshi for delivering such an insightful lecture. She also congratulated Dr. Luxita Sharma and the whole team for organizing a systematic and well-arranged 5-day FDP program. Dr. Vij also thanked participants for attending the session patiently and for giving amazing feedback. At last, Dr. Luxita Sharma gave a vote of thanks to each and every member associated with the FDP program and congratulated the whole team for the successful completion of the event. The session was concluded by capturing the moment in the presence of FDP participants.