Confessions of a wandering mind

Vijay Vaidyanathan
Information Technology Management
GMBA - April 09

The wall clock in our class displays 7:10 pm. I look around the classroom and notice at least 10 hands popping up in the air – students eagerly trying to put forth their points of view or ask questions on the topic being discussed in class. Today we are discussing the online strategies of Skype and SPH – South East Asia’s leading media brand. This was supposed to be a 3-hour session and should have come to an end by 5:30 pm. The class has been going on for almost 5 hours now!!!

Is this the same class where students often complain having to sit through just the stipulated duration of the classes? No one in the class (including me) seems to be in a mood to end the session. I’m amazed at the interest and the enthusiasm displayed by the students today.


The difference today (in fact this whole week) is the journey that our professor is taking us on. The subject is ‘E-Business’ and the professor is ‘Dr.Vijay Sethi’. No boring power points or no monologues here; The class is lively, entertaining and full of discussions.

In our sessions, we discuss case studies on popular companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Skype etc. E-Business, as a concept, is familiar to most people who spend considerable time over the Internet and many of us are also familiar with these companies and their respective industries. But what is different in these sessions is the manner in which our professor weaves the different concepts and facts, and joins them together like the pieces of a Jigsaw puzzle. The discussions are slowly built up like the plot of a story with startling revelations at the end of each chapter :)

There are lots of concepts and practices that we take for granted. Our analysis of the cases is based on such beliefs and assumptions. The professor breaks down these assumptions and prods us to question them, revealing the why, what and how of the events being discussed in the cases. Students also share their own experiences and thoughts with the rest of the class.

It is getting late and of course, we have a huge workload waiting for us when we get back to our hostel rooms. But right now, no one cares. We are just staying at the moment and savouring the superior learning experience in our classrooms – EXPERIENCE ECONOMY!!!