General Paper on Teaching & Research Aptitude
PAPER-I
Unit-I: Teaching Aptitude
• Teaching: Concept, Objectives, Levels of teaching (Memory, Understanding and Reflective), Characteristics and basic requirements.
• Learner’s characteristics: Characteristics of adolescent and adult learners (Academic, Social, Emotional and Cognitive), Individual differences.
• Factors affecting teaching related to: Teacher, Learner, Support material, Instructional facilities, Learning environment and Institution.
• Methods of teaching in Institutions of higher learning: Teacher centred vs. Learner centred methods; Off-line vs. On-line methods (Swayam, Swayamprabha, MOOCs etc.).
• Teaching Support System: Traditional, Modern and ICT based.
• Evaluation Systems: Elements and Types of evaluation, Evaluation in Choice Based Credit System in Higher education, Computer based testing, Innovations in evaluation systems.
Unit-II: Research Aptitude
• Research: Meaning, Types, and Characteristics, Positivism and Post-positivistic approach to research.
• Methods of Research: Experimental, Descriptive, Historical, Qualitative and Quantitative methods.
• Steps of Research.
• Thesis and Article writing: Format and styles of referencing.
• Application of ICT in research.
• Research ethics.
Unit-III: Comprehension
• A passage of text be given. Questions be asked from the passage to be answered.
Unit-IV Communication
• Communication: Meaning, types and characteristics of communication.
• Effective communication: Verbal and Non-verbal, Inter-Cultural and group
communications, Classroom communication.
• Barriers to effective communication.
• Mass-Media and Society.
Unit-V: Mathematical Reasoning and Aptitude
• Types of reasoning.
• Number series, Letter series, Codes and Relationships.
• Mathematical Aptitude (Fraction, Time & Distance, Ratio, Proportion and Percentage, Profit and Loss, Interest and Discounting, Averages etc.).
Unit-VI: Logical Reasoning
• Understanding the structure of arguments: argument forms, structure of categorical propositions, Mood and Figure, Formal and Informal fallacies, Uses of language, Connotations and denotations of terms, Classical square of opposition.
• Evaluating and distinguishing deductive and inductive reasoning.
• Analogies.
• Venn diagram: Simple and multiple use for establishing validity of arguments.
• Indian Logic: Means of knowledge.
• Pramanas: Pratyaksha (Perception), Anumana (Inference), Upamana (Comparison), Shabda (Verbal testimony), Arthapatti (Implication) and Anupalabddhi (Non-apprehension).
• Structure and kinds of Anumana (inference), Vyapti (invariable relation), Hetvabhasas (fallacies of inference).
Unit-VII: Data Interpretation
• Sources, acquisition and classification of Data.
• Quantitative and Qualitative Data.
• Graphical representation (Bar-chart, Histograms, Pie-chart, Table-chart and Line-chart) and mapping of Data.
• Data Interpretation.
• Data and Governance.
Unit-VIII: Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
• ICT: General abbreviations and terminology.
• Basics of Internet, Intranet, E-mail, Audio and Video-conferencing.
• Digital initiatives in higher education.
• ICT and Governance.
Unit-IX: People, Development and Environment
• Development and environment: Millennium development and Sustainable development goals.
• Human and environment interaction: Anthropogenic activities and their impacts on environment.
• Environmental issues: Local, Regional and Global; Air pollution, Water pollution, Soil pollution, Noise pollution, Waste (solid, liquid, biomedical, hazardous, electronic), Climate change and its Socio-Economic and Political dimensions.
• Impacts of pollutants on human health.
• Natural and energy resources: Solar, Wind, Soil, Hydro, Geothermal, Biomass, Nuclear and Forests.
• Natural hazards and disasters: Mitigation strategies.
• Environmental Protection Act (1986), National Action Plan on Climate Change, International agreements/efforts -Montreal Protocol, Rio Summit, Convention on Biodiversity, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, International Solar Alliance.
Unit-X: Higher Education System
• Institutions of higher learning and education in ancient India.
• Evolution of higher learning and research in Post Independence India.
• Oriental, Conventional and Non-conventional learning programmes in India.
• Professional, Technical and Skill Based education.
• Value education and environmental education.
• Policies, Governance, and Administration.