Workshops & other Interactions

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Workshops are an excellent opportunity to interact and learn directly from engineers, managers and entrepreneurs in the core sector.

The workshops are the easiest way to initiate skill development with a specific focus. They are usually conducted at the institutions. Workshops are popular because they are a logistically feasible way to facilitate meaningful industry-academia interaction.

Workshops provide an environment where there is no "syllabus". The industry resource has the freedom to focus on specific topic(s). Students also focus on learning, not preparing for written exams.

By definition, a workshop is a meeting at which a group of people engage in intensive discussion and activity on a particular subject or project.

This means that...

• ...the topic should be meaningful in context of the industry it caters to. It should not be some "feel-good" topic with very little technical information,
• ... the attendees should learn specific topics in-depth,
• ...time should be optimally utilized to educate the attendees on the background knowledge required regarding the topic, and also provide enough hands-on time to get resourceful levels of understanding of the concepts, principles, and applications etc.,
• ...the industry expert who conducts the workshops should have absolute command over the topic being handled, not just some knowledge more than what the attendees know,
• ...topics should be dealt from an application perspective i.e., learning the concepts and tools alone is not enough.
• ..."How it is used in applications as it applies to industries today?" must be addressed in-depth,
• ...it should arouse the attendees' interest in the topic, making them wanting to learn more,
• ...it should give purposeful ideas that the attendees might take up as their academic projects or apply elsewhere in other products and solutions, and
• ...the interaction with the industry expert should not end there. If any technical guidance is required by the attendees in future, he/she should be accessible.

The sad reality of the so called "WORKSHOPS" today is that...

• ...these are some "feel-good" activity. "Training centers" approach institutions, seeking to conduct workshops on popular topics. They are simply giving some lecture demonstration on the topic, rather than focusing on meaningful hands-on and in-depth skill development.
• ...institutions are also being ignorant about the topics and get excited when they hear all these buzzwords and popular topics. There is little scrutiny on what will actually be covered during the workshop.

Any organisation that does not use the technology or topic being covered on a regular basis, should not be conducting the workshop. They will not be able to explain anything in context of how the technology applies in the industries.

1.  Purpose:

• Others: Conducting organisations misuse workshops as a marketing activity to promote their products, often at the expense of the attendees or Institutions.
• KSDI: We are conducting workshops because we and our industry peers intend to benefit from having more “employable” and “job-ready” manpower.

• Others: Colleges are being constantly lured into these “workshops” on the “state-of-the-art” topics, but the actual content covered is incomplete, does not add any real value, and becomes just a a “feel-good” activity.
• KSDI: The topics and content in our workshops was identified through an industry consensus. We focus on the skills that prospective employers desire, rather than on some “feel-good” topics. The focus of these workshops is to improve not just the job prospects, but career prospects.

• Others: Most workshops claim to be hands-on, but in reality, are just primarily lecture demonstrations with very little opportunity for the attendees to work hands-on.
• KSDI: Our workshops are extensively practical in nature, with individual hands-on experience on the individual equipment. We do not "crowd" the workshop and restrict the head-count so that we have a reasonable trainer-trainee ratio of 1:10 or less.

We have workshops that cater to the each year of engineering education. We conduct workshops for the following departments of engineering.

• Electronics and Communication Engineering
• Electrical and Electronics Engineering
• Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering
• Instrumentation and Control Engineering
• Mechatronics (and Mechanical Engineering)
• Robotics and Automation Engineering

We conduct workshops in the following areas:

• Production Practices
• New Product Design and Development
• Solution Provisioning
• Electronic Applications
• Microprocessors (ALP) and Applications
• Embedded Systems and Applications
• Advanced Programmable Devices and Applications
• Internet of Things and Applications
• VLSI (Prototyping)
• Process Control Components (Sensors and Actuators)
• PLC and Applications
• HMI-SCADA and Applications
• Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment

We can have industry academia interactions (seminars or guest lectures) that address the following topics.

• Preparing for a Career in Engineering
• Automation Today
• Embedded Systems and Applications
• VLSI - Design and Prototyping
• Industry Best Practices, Standards and Protocols
• New Product Design and Development
• Solution Provisioning
• Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship

You may also suggest any other topics you would like to address.