Courses

Divyadaan has adopted a ‘three year course’ in philosophy with the hope that it would enable the students acquire a more reflective and integrated approach to life and ministry and help them take personal responsibility for their human and intellectual growth.

It was felt that we need to move away from the ‘Lecture method’ which was mostly utilized earlier. This method tended to focus almost exclusively on the completion of a certain syllabus. The students were expected to memorize what was presented in the class and to reproduce it at the examinations. In this method the classroom was the locus of learning and most of the work was done in class. The teacher was expected to run through the subject matter and the class notes were considered very important.

The ‘New Methodology’ that has been proposed requires that the ‘core syllabus’ be linked with life issues, the socio- economic reality and the future ministry of the students. This methodology proposes that class study be combined with personal reading. Students are expected to read a few primary sources. The professors, on their part, are expected to guide the students through a process of basic reading in the foundational courses. They are encouraged to move beyond dictating notes, and to involve student participation by means of, for example, class presentations. In case notes are necessary, the professors could give them to the students at the end of every section or class but not before.

The students could be divided into small groups. They could be given issues and questions to discuss in their respective groups and provided the possibility of presenting their findings in class. Students would be helped to write papers with proper methodology and bibliography, take active part in seminars that develop their capacity to read, understand, discuss and summarize primary sources and finally to be able to come up with a personalized, creative and critical synthesis of their own.

The new methodology would require that the various courses be taught in an integrated way. The students would be helped to adopt a multidisciplinary approach interlinking the Christian faith and the Salesian ministry.