EPISODE 10: Compassion to Curriculum: Building Empowered Schools | ft. Karuna Yadav

The future of learning isn't written on the blackboard; it's determined by how we teach and engage and inspire. Into It Matters Podcast with Ms. Kajal Thakuriya, an educator and academic innovator, informally conversing on the transformation of classrooms from routine instruction into areas of creativity, collaboration, and questioning. Her thoughts lead us to understand that the best of teachers nowadays are changemakers who flip lesson plans into experiences that mold future thinkers.

Faculty Innovation in Modern Education

There's a new wave of educators who transform the delivery of knowledge. The lecturer today is no longer merely an information provider; instead, he is a mentor, a motivator, and an enabler. As Kajal Ma'am explains, faculty today would rarely just teach—they would put in place environments that support autonomous thinking and collaborative exploration on the part of the students.

This approach is reflected in the many podcast examples for students and shares a common thread of ending in storytelling for under details of real conversations to engage with their clients in a more concrete and relatable way. Whereas podcasts inspire questioning, modern pedagogy inspires learners to combine theory with real-world experiences and make passive classrooms into active ecosystems.

Rethinking Engagement: Gamification and Project-Based Learning

One gamification technique can be used to morph participation into passion. Leaderboards, points, and class challenges give students a prevalent sense of ownership of the learning.

Similarly, in project-based learning, academic theory meets real-world problem-solving. Ms. Kajal talks about how teamwork, experimentation, and reflection help learners find meaning in the process.

These methods are reflective of what the best podcasts for students aspire to do, i.e., learning that feels personal, interactive, and motivating. Once educators harness creativity as their teaching tool, every classroom becomes a platform for discovery.

Flipped Learning: From Passive Listening to Active Doing

In traditional classrooms, the typical setup in teaching involved the teacher giving instructions to be listened to by the students. However, the flipped classroom model turns that paradigm upside down. Students first look at materials at home: these can be videos, readings, podcasts, or the like, and come to class with all these materials ready to be applied.

Believing that structure builds accountability and engagement, teachers then set themselves up as facilitators of thought rather than speakers of content. It resembles the way higher education podcasts foster self-learning, given that the students listen on their own and then bring fresh ideas to the table.

Flipped learning, by virtue of inverting the sequence of instruction and interaction, builds thinkers who analyze and apply—these being crucial traits for realizing success in the knowledge economy.

Teaching for Every Mind: The Art of Inclusive Pedagogy

Not every brain is alike, i.e., while some students grasp by using audiovisual inputs, others acquire knowledge by discussion or movement. Kajal Ma'am stresses differentiated instruction: the multiple ways of teaching in order to cultivate the feeling of acceptance in each learner.

Storytelling, simulations, and collaborative assignments: the methodologies of inclusive pedagogy teach that no learner is ever left behind. It is a shared ecosystem of understanding rather than competition.

The philosophy of inclusiveness characterizes It-Matters basically: Each episode is created to reach various audience constituents—students, educators, and innovators — who take it upon themselves to learn in whatever way and pace suits them.

Technology and Teaching: AI, Podcasts, and Simulations

Technology is not against education; rather, it is a great aid to the imagination. That is how Kajal Ma'am looks at AI, podcasts, and simulations: enrichments of the pedagogical journey to be used meaningfully.

Podcasts help teachers extend lessons beyond class hours, AI adapts content at a student's own pace, and simulations bring abstract concepts into view.

Teachers embracing these strategies nurture learners who are more curious, informed, and adaptive—traits that are essential in today's rapidly evolving educational environment.

Smoothening the Path of Assessment: The Assessments that Reflect Growth

Grades are essentially incapable of describing a learner's journey with any meaningful depth. According to Kajal Maʼam, assessments beyond just test scores should include portfolios, reflections, and creative evaluations measuring progress rather than perfection.

Students learn best when they feel trusted to think for themselves. When feedback is ongoing and constructive, education becomes a continuous dialogue and not a final judgment.

This could also be a sharp, critical review of new education policy.

The curriculum reforms have given a lot of traction to skill-based learning, creative pedagogy, and holistic evaluation vis-à-vis India’s NEP 2020 reforms. Kajal’s teaching style brings these reforms forth into application—realizing policy into the classroom.

Building the Classroom of Tomorrow

Education reform begins with educators. Faculty innovation, student participation, and inclusive pedagogy will be the foundation of the classrooms of tomorrow.

By gamifying and flipping their classrooms and employing all sorts of technology in instruction, they can nurture not just scholars but creators, thinkers, and problem-solvers.

"Teaching is no longer about finishing the syllabus—it's about starting a spark," Kajal Thakuriya once beautifully said.

These words capture the spirit of It Matters — a movement that connects educators, learners, and innovators through stories in ways that facilitate change.

Creativity in pedagogy goes into nurturing a generation ready to learn, lead, and truly make education matter.