unit20seminar talks

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UNIT 20 SEMINAR TALKSStructure

ObjectivesIntroductionInauguration of the SeminarHow a Seminar is ConductedThe B eginning of a Seminar Talk or PaperLogical Developm ent of the Talk or PaperConcluding the TalkDiscussionLet Us Sum UpAnswers

After going through this unit, you will be able to:hegin a semin ar talk by focussing attention on the main points you are going to discussdeve lop the main points step by stepreinforce your arguments w ith reliable evidencepresent your data through charts and diagramsrecapitulate the main ideas in each section of your talkconclude effectively by reiterating your view s, andcontribute meaningfully and constructively to a discussion following a se mina r talk.

20.1 INTRODUCTIONIn the last unit we discussed som e speeches. At the outset. seminar talks might look likespeeches, but there is a marked difference between the two. While speec hes are made tocelebrate or mark an o ccasion. happy or sad, to felicitate som eone, to bid som eone farewellor we lcome som eone, they do not raise a particular issue for discussion. In a seminar talk,the speaker. who has made a special study of the subject, gives his exposition of it andpresents his views on it.Conferences and sem inars help to bring experts in a particular subject together to presenttheir experiences and views. There is a meaningful discussion on the paperc that are read,and sum ma ries of these papers and the recom mendations, if any, are published in the formof a report for w ider circulation.Thus a se mina r may be held on any important aspec t of national life like pollution of theenvironment or the declining state of education.In this unit, we shall be studying excerpts from a few papers presented at a sem inar on'Distance Education in India'. It is not possible to give exam ples from more than oneseminar, but the aspects studied here a re useful in general for preparing papers fo r mostseminars.On the basis of the papers we have reproduced in this unit, we shall discuss features like themethod of presentation, the language and style, and the discussion that follow s the readingof a paper. One important aspect of a sem inar talk is proper delivery. This involves carefularticulation, stress on important words, and effective modulation of the voice.


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20.q INAUGURATION OF TH E SEMINARis usually opened by a distinguished person invited by the organisers of the

A spe imen inaugural speech is given below:t'I welcome you all to this seminar on 'The problen~s f pollution in the Cities inndia'. Your expertise in the field of environmental studies will contribute to the

of a solution to the great problem which threatens city life today. The keynote, notice, is to be giv2n by Dr. N. Kumara Swamy, who has been associated

environmental studies in our country for the last four decades. His studies inycling of chemical waste in urban industries has earned him a name all over the

of distinguished scholars are going to take part in the seminar. I have greatin inaugurating this seminar and wish you success in your deliberations.

20.4 HOW A SEMINAR IS COND UCTEDI

may continue for two or three days, and be divided into a number of differentach session covers a broad aspect of the topic, and related papers are presented atssion. Each session is presided over by someone distinguished in the field. Heparticipants to present their papers. After each paper he invites questions andand thus a discussion follows. He also moderates the discussion and prevents iting a mere verbal duel or heated argument.iving a seminar talk or reading a paper, you must think of your main points, theich you will present them and the time at your disposal. You must avoid being

and tiresome. You may, if you like, project the main points of your paper ontousing an overhead projector, if one is available. Use charts or diagrams whereany audio-visual aids that you consider useful.

Che Your Progress 1bSay hich of the following are correct statements:tIminars are held to give experts in a subject an opportunity to discuss personalroblems.ii) b e f the aims of a seminar is toaniw t a solution to a problem m a particular field.

the aims of a seminar is to make recommendations for the improvement of a

iv) piscussions following a seminar talk must be heated and forceful.e paper must be rqad objectively in a cold, dispassionate voice.

20.1 TH E BEGINNING OF A SEMINAR TALK OR PAPERbeginning of a paper read at a seminar on 'Distance Education in India' by Prof.

eddy, Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University. The Paper isistance Education: What, Why and How?' Notice the way in which the paper

Intr uctionbs paper, I would like to deal with three aspects of distance education:

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Intewlews and Public Speaking a) What is distance education?b) Why distance education in a country like India? andC) How of it? i.e. the forms of distance education in this country.

Though distance education has been catching up very fast in all countries developed anddeveloping, socialist and capitalist, western and non-western-it is still 'little know11 andlittle studied." As Keegan points out: "Even a cursory reading of educational literatureshows thal distance systems are usually ignored. It merits not a paragraph in most volumesof educational philosophy, in guides to administrative process or in analyses of didacticstrategy." However, its importance is being realised all over the world, and certainly indeveloping countries, more by the policy makers than by the educationists.What is Distance Education?What, then, is distance education? There is no one meaning of the term 'distance education'It is known by a variety of names, viz., 'Correspondence Education', 'Home Study','Independent Study', 'External Study', 'Off-campus Study', 'Open Learning', 'OpenEducation', etc. There is, what Fred Jevons calls: "a bewildering nomenclature". InAustralia, its official name is External System. "This description is not very muchappreciated because it carries vibes of old London external system which usually providesexamination but not teaching." This system is very prevalent in India also. In somecountries, the term 'Correspondence Education' is widely used. But it has increasingly beenreplaced by the. term 'Independent Study' in North America. 'Home Study' is sometimesused to describe correspondence programmes of private schools both in North America andEurope. This is also disliked by many mainly because some of the correspondenceinstitutions have only profit motive, particularly the private ones, No doubt, some of themenjoy very good reputation, but several of them are far from it. Further, severalcorrespondence institutions depend only on one medium, viz. the print material. Thedistance education today lays emphasis not only on print medium but also on other media. Infact, multi-media approach is the comer stone of the distance education system.(from Studies in Distance Education, edited by B.N. Koul and others A.I.U/IGNOU 1988.)Check Your prodress21) Why according to the speaker, is it important to discuss Distance Education?

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................2). What is the difference between correspondance education and distance education?

3) Write a beginning in 100 words for a paper on "Prevention of Deforestation".


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5 LOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TH E TALK ORPAPER

inted out in Section 20.4 in the introduction the speaker has drawn our attention to theconcerns of his paper and defined distance education. He then goes on to discuss whyce education is important for India-the second major concern of his paper.Distance Education?let me turn to the second question: the need for distance education in India. If we lookeducational scene in this country during the last four decades, certain trends arey visible and the need for distance education arises as a result of the consequence of

a) inequalities in education, i.e. the question of access to education;b) quality of education; and

ess to Educationine the issue of access to education first. It is true that during the last 40 years

been a remarkable expansion in education, particularly at the tertiary levels. I dothat in any other walk of life such a large scale expansion has taken place. For

51, there were only 22 universities in this country; today, there are about 160.the number of colleges has gone up from 695 to 5482 and the number of studentssed from 1,74,000 to 35,38,000. The expenditure on education has risen from

in 1950-51 to over 6000 crores in 1984-85.ite this increase, the proportion of tertiary level student population in relative age

ps, i.e. 17-23 years, is only 4.8% which compares very unfavourably with some of thetries like Philippines (25), South Korea (18), Japan (30), U.S.S.R. (18) and U.S.A. (55).e figures show that higher education in India lags far behind the above countries.

e expansion of the school system the number of students going to higher education isto increase. Even a conservative estimate for 2000 A.D. indicates that the likelyent in higher education is expected to double, i.e. roughly, there will be 6 1million2ts. There are also estimates, strongly reasoned, that the enrolment will quadruple innext 20 years as it did in the last 20 years. It is clear that we will face a crisis of growing

nsity unless the present problems are tackled.quoted these figures to impress upon you the nature and types of inequalities in

n in this country. This certainly is not a happy state of affairs. It is not in theevelopment of the country, nor is it possible to live with this unjust system.

certainly not possible in a society which is democratic and wants to improve theof its people. As a result, the pressure for expansion of educational

nities will grow. If we look at the situation in the states, we find that tremendousre exercised on the governments to open more and more institutions of higher

,whether colleges or universities, and very few democratic governments can affordist such pressures even assuming that such a resistance is desirable. Experience showsven strong governments which are democratic have yielded and expanded the system.

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Interviews and Pub lic Speaking Therefore, the expansion of educational facilities becomes necessary.Assuming that more educational facilities have to be provided in the country, what shouldbe the approach to meet such demands? Obviously, one approach is to start more and moreinstitutions of higher learning and that is how the governments have been responding to thisdemand during the last four decades in this country. Now we see that even this phenomenalexpansion has not met the demands and inequalities continue to exist. This is mainlybecause of our approach to education. All along, expansion meant increasing the number offormal educational institutions, which suffer from certain rigidities. For instance, formalsystems have the following four characteristics:a) Teachers-full time teachers to teach;b) Students-full time learners to learn;c) Place--class rooms where alone learning can take place; andd) Interaction-face -to -face interaction between the teacher and the taught.All these are cohsidered essential attributes for imparting education and if these attributesare not there, education cannot take place. There are many in the population who cannotafford to be full-time learners. At the same time, there are governments which cannot affordto employ full-time teachers all the time and provide costly infrastructure in the form ofbuildings;Formal edueatioh is very costly. As a result, expansion on a large scale becomes verydifficult. Even if the society is prepared to provide these, there are sections in the populationwho candot take advantage of it. The inevitable conclusion one draws from this is that, iflarge and varied sections of population are to have access to education, our approach to itmust change, We have to thirk of alternative systems which cad supplement the existingsystem. Distance education is one such alternative and it has the potential to transcend thebarriers of time and space.(from Studies in Distance Education)Check Your Progress 31 ) i) What fbcal points does the speaker draw our attention to in this section of his

paper7

ii) Give two figures to prove that there has been an increase in educational facilitiessince 1951.

....................................................................................................................................iii) How can a democratic government deal with inequalities in higher education?


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iv) Why is it not possible to have a large scale expansion of educational facilities Seminar Talksthrough the formal education system?

2) Draw up a table to show the increase in educational facilities and student enrolmentfrom 1951 to the present time (that is, the time when the talk was given).

an excerpt from the next section of the paper. It discusses a particular feature ofsystem of education. Read it carefully and answer the questions which

nother criticism of our educational system concerns its relevance. That universitiesother institutions of higher education are not only elitist but also irrelevant to the

ial needs is the oft repeated comment. This may be an exaggerated picture, but thect remains that there is some substance in such a criticism. Where we need more

echnical education, we are providing for more arts courses; where we need moretermediate level technologies, we are producing more engineers and doctors, andhere we need more continuing education to update the skills and knowledge of theorking people, we are providing more of general education. In a changing society,ore opportunities need to be provided for continuing and extension education. Veryw institutions today provide opportunities for such education.the preceding paragraphs, I have explained some of the problems in our present daycational system. To recapitulate, there are problems of access, quality and relevance.ess we reorganise and reorient out educational system, we would not be able to

ercome them. We have, therefore, to think of alternatives and different strategies.e such strategy which is catching up all ovq the world is that of distance education.anks to the availability of modem communication technologies, it is possible for usprovide access to education to a large number of people, improve the quality ofucation and provide relevant courses.om Studies in Distance Education)

Y Name three courses which can help to update the skills and knowledge'of theworking people.....................................................................................................................................

) Each major section in a talk must be followed by a summary of the main pointsdiscussed. What sentences above do this?


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Interviews and Public Speaking 4) In the next section of the talk the speaker discusses which sections of society willbenefit from distance education. Read this excerpt carefully.The University Grants Comm ission also encou raged the starting of correspond encecourses and said that these courses were expected to cater to the follow ing categories ostudents:1) Studen ts who had to discontinue their formal education owing to pecuniary andother circumstances.2) Studen ts in geographically remote areas.3) Studen ts who had to discontinu e their education because of lack of ap titude andmotivation but who might later on become motivated .4) Studen ts who could not find a seat or do not wish to join a regular college oruniversity department although they had the necessary qualifications to pursuehigher education.5) Individuals who look upon education a s a life-long activity and might like toimpro ve their knowledge in an existing discipline or acqu ire knowledge in newareas.6) In-service persons(from Studies in Distance Education)Now say what features of the open university system listed below will be especiallyhelpful to the categ ories of peo ple listed above.Themain features of op en universities are:They are, like their conventional coun terparts autonomou s bodies and are free totake their own decisions and formulate their courses.They use multi-me dia for instructional purposes and electronic media are an

' important component. 'There is a strong student suppo rt serviceThe m aterial is prepared by teams of exp ertsEntry qu alifications are flexible and relaxedOne can study according to one's own pace and convenienceThere is uniformity in the quality of education i.e. the students have access to thesame high qu ality of education . E.g., Students living in geog raphically remote areawill especially benefit by the use of electronic media. Lessons and instructions canbe broadcast to them on T.V. o r Radio.

20.6 CONCLUDING THE TALKThe conclusion brings all the different sections of the talk together and the main points arebrought into proper relationship. An anecdo te, a story or a q uotation helps to clinch the talkeffectively. This is how P rgf. G. Rama Reddy conclud es the talk. He draw s inspiration frommythology.


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nclude: I have described the concept, the need, arrangements and the organisational SeminarTalksof distance education in the country. The origin of distance education lies basically inhilosophy that the society has a responsibility to provide educational opportunities towho for some reason or the other cannot go to the conventional system. There is theof Ekalavya in mythology, who wanted to learn under the guru, Dronacharya, who as11know, refused to take him as a student because he was neither a Brahman nor aatriya. However, Ekalavya was determined to learn and what happened subsequently iswn to all of us. The legend goes that Ekalavya built a figure in the image of Dronacharyastarted practising archery under its feet. Subsequently, his skills in archery surpassedse of the best pupil of Dronacharya. What happened subsequently is not relevant here.point, however, that needs to be made is that today a motivated learner cannotbe andt not be ignored for any reason whatsoever. In those days a Dronacharya could refuse ton Ekalavya as a student and the society would tolerate it. Today's democratic societynot afford to overlook the interest of Ekalavyas nor can Dronacharyas say 'no' to them.tance education and the Open Universities facilitate this. Open Universities aresities for the modem Ekalavyas. Availability of communication technologies makepossible today. It is said that there was a time when, if a student wanted to learn, he hado to the Aristotle. Today we have the means to take the Aristotle to the student.refore, let us take full advantage of the technologies available for extending educationalnities to all those who want to have access to it.m Studies in Distance Education)C eck Your Progress 44 e is an extract from a newspaper about a proposed seminar on 'Child bonded labour',.te a suitable conclusion to a talk on the subject based on the points in this extract. (100~ d m in a r n Child bonded labour

About 50 per cent of the 70 million children working in differentmay come under the definition of child bonded labour, said thedhua Mukti Morcha here today.ference, he said it is a sad comment on the sensibilities of our societychild bonded labour has attracted very little attention. This mostcrime against childhood and humanity is yet to be recognised as a desperateat all levels of our society, he added.

South Asian region accounts for the highest incidence of child labour of the world andhas the "lion's share". Majority of these poor children are engaged in unorganisedultural sector, followed by the carpet industry spread in the Mirzapur, Bhadoi belt ofPradesh, which accounts for more than one lakh child workers.centration of child labour can also be seen in the glass or bangle making industry ofd, UP, stone quanies and brick kilns, lock industry of Aligarh (UP), match andindustry of Sivakasi (Tamil Nadu) and diamond industry of Jaipur and Surat.

is a common sight to find child workers engaged in hotels and dhabas throughoutBandhua Mukti Morcha has decided to organise a five day international seminar onId Servitude in South Asia' here from June 30.The Hindustan Times,3 June,'89)


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Interviews and Public Speaking

20.7 DISCUSSION .Th e discussion on a sem inar talk might bring up a disagreement in views or take the form ofa question seeking clarification. Since copies of the paper to be presented at the seminar aredistributed to the participants ahead of the session, you should read it and note where youneed a clarification or where you disagree. These points may then be raised at the time ofdiscussion. Criticism must alway s be constructive and offered a s a contribution to the studyof the topic discussed.Here is an excerpt from another paper entitled 'support services in Distance Education'presented by Prof. Bakhshish Singh at the same seminar. Read this excerpt carefully and seewhat questions might arise in your mind about the use of support services like audio, video,T.V. and radio, library facilities and counselling (giving advice and tutrorial help to thestudent) Ask yourself whe ther the recommend ations made by the spea ker are feasible inIndia.Support Services in Distance EducationAudio cassettes and video tapes are also very effective teaching media. They have anadvantage over the radio and TV in that they enable the learner to have control over thelearning material he can listen to or view the programm es at any time convenient to him. Hecan stop the cassette or video tape at any stage, go over any section of the cassette or tape asoften as he needs and use it again and again for revision or recall. Phonograph records andFlexi discs are also good devices which are cheaper and more easily accessible. Educationalfilm strips and films too could be very useful and effective media in the teaching-learningprocesses.Telephone has great potential fo r providing two-way interactor between the learner and theteacher, as also among the learners themselves. It is particularly useful when an institutionhas to deal with students scattered over vast areas and in coun tries where there is shortage ofspecialists. Som e of the latest innovations of telephone are Tele-tutoring a nd Tele-conferencing. Tele-tutoring can be developed into a very useful student support service inthe distance educatidn system. The institutions which hav e adopted these innovationsallocate learners to telephone tutors and the learners can discuss their problems with thetutor on telephone. The learners and th e tutors do not have to travel for interaction seminars,etc.Distance education institutes in the developing co un tie s may not be in a position to ma keuse of all the innovations of modem commu nication techno log), but they should chalk out a


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phased program me of the integration of these devices illto their teaching-learning system tomake it more effective. In the first phase we should take immediate steps to adopt suchdevices as are easily available and w ithin the reach of our learners, e.g. Radio, Television.lephone, Audio Cass ettes and Video tapes. In the second phase we should try to developvarious adaptations of Radio, Television and Telephone. In the third phase we shouldeep an eye on the future and try to develop the latest and sophisticated commu nicationchnologies in collaboration with the developed countries.

of study centres is of vital importance to a distance education institute foruseful support to the students in their leami ng pursuits. Each study centre shouldve a counsellor who should be competent enough to g ive general counselling, advice, andidance to the students on methodology of learning through the distance education systemeneral aspects of the ;arious courses. He should also be able to provide to the public inea detailed informa tion and guidance regarding courses of study available in thete which may be relevant to their needs. The ce ntre should also have su bject tutorsay be available to the students for consultation and guidance. These tutors could alsoevaluation of students' assignments, and teach at the face-to-face contactmes. Tutorial supp ort is of crucial im portance to the learners and serves as a great .ooster for them. It helps them to overcom e the feeling of isolation.study centre should also have a good library, audio and video equipment, telephone anding lab facilities. It should have suitable w orking hours ac.-ording to the conveniencedents and must remain open on Sundays and holidays too.

The study centres can als o organise distribution of course m aterial.I of the variations of study centres and face-to-face contact programm es tried by somece education institutes in different countries are:y North 1sland .College in Vancouve r Island, Canada,and more compact editions of the static conventional Study Centres. Each

has study carrels for about 4 students, a tutor's cabin, radio telephone storage forbooks, audio visual viewing equipm ent for multiple viewing of differerltby different students, a micro computer fiation and space for laboratory v ork.by a sing le tutor who performs multiple roles to guide varied learnerg studyinges, to advise them how to learn and to help them in making their le an ing asas poss ible. Ho wev er, he has the supp ort of two other tutors-the subje ct tutorstudents' a ssignments an d the local telephone tutor for sorting out thelems that cannot be resolved by him. Students can avail themselves of thebile learning centre by prior appointment. They are free to spend any lengthto the tutor individually or as a group. using resource material, writingts, etc. These m obile units scrve the purpose of publicity vans also and enthuse aas visited, to enrol for various courses. The mo bile learningrm a very useful support service for Distance Lea rners, and should bele for developing countries.

questions arise in your mind on reading the excerpt above. Here is one that might

ntry, not many students have telephones at home. A lso, the telephone service isbecause telephones are often out of order. As a num ber,of people need to use ther important business activities and emergencies, it would be improper to use theong time to discuss on academic problem'.

~ b ntfutehtpd~ntsy say'1ng..1did .Distance Educa tion institutes in the developing countries may

1. . ..., , innovations of modern communica~onechnonol0gy...

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Interviews and Public Speaking Check Your Progress 5 S .1 ) State some other objections to the use of technology discussed in the excerpt above andgive possible refutations. Put this in the form of a discussion.

2) If you were the person w ho gave the talk above, how w ould you answer this question:"How can people living in remote mountain and desert areas of India where there arevery poor transport facilities make use of the study centres?" You may base youranswer on the cas e of North Island college in Canada cited later in the paper4100words)

20.8 LET US SUM UPA seminar is a gathering of experts who read papers on some important area of nationalor international affairs.


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T seminar is organized into a number of different sessions. A particular aspect of them in theme or topic is dealt with at each session.tin your paper by outlining the major concerns of the paper.the different aspects of your paper properly and logically.lude by summarising the main points you have made.

Check our Progress 1Iii) an (iii)41Check our Progress 2tr1) Be ause distance education is little known and little studied in educational literature,altfough it is.fast catching up in developed and developing countries.ile correspondence education lays emphasis only on print medium, a multimediaach is used in distance education.

ntion of Deforestationis paper, I would like to deal with four aspects of the problem of deforestation:The percentage of forest trees that have been cut down since 1947 in different partsof the country.The causes for deforestation-both wanton and that organised by governmentagencies.The steps being taken to prevent deforestation.Further suggestions for preservation and afforestation.

there has been a steady erosion of our forest wealth leading togeographical and ecological imbalances in nature. Although there is a growingof the problem, the government has failed to check deforestation.

liheck our Progress 3He draws our attention to the three trends which make distance educationnecessary:1 a) inequalities in education

Ib) the quality of teachingI C) the relevance of coursesii)

iv)

.In 195 1, there were only 22 universities in the country; today there are about 160,and since 1951 the number of colleges has gone up from 695 to 5482.

iii)

In the formal system we have full-time students, but many people cannot afford tobe full-time learners. Formal education is expensive, because we need full timeteachers and proper classrooms. Not all state governments can afford a large scaleexpansion of the formal system.1951 1988

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By an expansion of educational facilities. At present the facilities are not sufficientto meet the demand.

Coll ges 695 5,482Stud nt enrolment 1.74,000 35.38.000


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Interviews and Public Speaking 3) i) For example, T.V. and Radio Maintenance, Effective Salesmanship, OfficeManagement.ii) "In the preceding paragraphs, I have explained some of the problems of oureducationa l system. To recapitulate, there are problems of acc ess, quality and

relevance."4) Students who had to discontinue their formal education owing to pecuniarycircumstan ces or lack of aptitudz and motivation can now join Open U niversity

courses, although they do not have formal c@alifications, since adm ission requirementsat an open university are flexible. In service persons can now study at their own paceand convenien ce without disrupting their normal w ork. .

Check Your Progress 4If our country is to prosper, we m ust guarantee a healthy and happy ch ildhood to millions ofour children. We mu st free them from the cur se of bonded labour, and bring them out of themines and dh abas where they sp end the most form ative years of their life. The childrenworking in various industries must be assigned not only proper working cond itions andhealthy living, but also proper education. Otherw ise the next generation will have a largenumber of people w hose childhood will and adolescence were marked by hardship andsuffering and who did not get opportunities of normal physical and mental development.Check Your Progress 51) 'An average student in our country cannot afford aud io and video cassette players. S o ,why waste money making such programmes'?Reply 'But they can m ake use of these programmes a t the study centre nearest tothem.'

'But m any students cannot com e to the study centres, because they live inremote areas wh ere they can not get any proper transport. In som e cases itmay take da ys and cost a lot of money'.

Reply 'Well, fo r the time being, those w ho can get to the study centres willbenefit from these prbgrammes. La ter on, when the programm es arebroadcast, the students living in remo te areas can also benefit from them'.'Is attendance at the study centre going to be compulsory?'

Reply 'No. W e can't make attendance at study centres compulsory because, asyou said, it is not possible for everyone.to co me there '.2) In som e countries like Canada where they have distance education, mobile study centresare used. We can introduce a similar s, tem in our country. At appointed periods, a

team can visit a remo te village with a library and audio-vide o programm es. The tutorscan answ er any questions the students have and lend them the books they want.

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