Research cell – “Shodh Sadhana”

Research Cell – Shodh Sadhana

At KKCE, it is our constant endeavor to experiment with and implement innovations that contribute significantly to the development of the community in line with its mission of preparing professionals excelling in teaching, learning and research. Such well groomed teachers have the potential to serve the myriad needs of the community. They are one of the important indicators of a developed healthy society.

In this mission for excellence, the Institution set up its Research Cell ‘Shodh Sadhana’  on 12^th December 2009 to encourage debate, discussions and sharing of ideas on current issues and challenges as well as emerging thoughts in education. Since then, it continues with its varied activities involving research and community outreach.

The objectives of the Research Cell reflect the ideologies of the Institution. They are:

• To organize workshops and training on Research and Education.
• To provide support facilities to upcoming researchers to carry out their work.
• To provide firsthand experience in the research related work to the student-teachers.
• To provide a platform for the researchers to showcase their accomplished work.
• To promote collaborative, inter-disciplinary research activities.
• To publish newsletters for dissemination of information related to research in education.

Ph.D. Centre:

The College is a recognized centre of the Mumbai University for Ph. D. in Education. We have 24 seats allotted to the college for the Ph.D.  program. Research scholars are given several facilities like a dedicated reading room, access to INFLIBNET, Wi-Fi enabled section and access to books and rich research related literature including digitized Thesis and Dissertations. The College has six recognized guides:

1. Dr. Jayashree Inbaraj
2. Dr. Smita Gupta
3. Dr. Gauri Hardikar
4. Dr. Sheetal Zalte
5. Dr. Megha D’Souza
6. Dr. Sunil Rajpurkar

Activities of the Research Cell:

Since its inception, Shodh Sadhana is inching towards its aim of creating research knowledge society by achieving the aforesaid objectives. Following major activities were planned and implemented in the last few years in this direction:

• Research paper reading sessions by research scholars from KKCE as well as outside Institutions.
• Sessions on the topics related to research activities by expert resource persons.
• Study circle sessions where teacher educators from KKCE and other TEIs meet and engage in discussions on any research article or a chapter from a book having educational value and enrich their research scholarship.
• Many major and minor research projects sponsored by National and International organizations have been undertaken by the staff members that include UGC, ICSSR, Mumbai University.
• Workshops/seminars on research based topics
• Shodh Sadhana publishes its yearly news letter comprising of research based articles. It also highlights activities carried out by the cell throughout the year.
• Publication of Synopsis of selected Action Research Projects
• Specific activities of the Ph.D cell like organizing introductory workshops to research, workshops on Qualitative Research, etc.

Guiding Assumptions of Shodh Sadhana:

• Notions, beliefs, ideas and practice in Education, Teacher Education and teacher development are numerous and diverse and sometimes even conflicting. The Centre believes that providing an intellectual space to debate and discuss this diversity by adopting an open, dialectical and critical approach to research and development will create an academic atmosphere of research and learning.
• Research in education is necessary in order to provide a basis for educational planning & policy making. It is one of the main fields that should be embedded in higher education curriculum.
• Educators, policy-makers and teachers can and will understand and appreciate the research-based approach in teacher education provided the right kind of learning environment is promoted.
• Teachers are the single most important influence on the emotional, moral, aesthetic and intellectual qualities of education. School and college improvement is closely linked to teacher development and hence school based research & teacher research is extremely significant.