St. Xavier’s College, Mapusa organized a six-day Faculty Development Programme on “Open Educational Resources and Artificial Intelligence in Teaching and Research” from October 18–24, 2025. The FDP was inaugurated by Chief Guest Prof. (Dr.) Gervasio S. F. L. Mendes, Additional Director, Directorate of Higher Education (DHE), Government of Goa and Guest of Honour Fr. Marianno Dias, Assistant to the Secretary, Diocesan Society of Education (DSE). Also present were Dr. Osborne Terrence Dsouza, CEO and Co-Founder of Juana Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Officiating Principal Ms. Ursula Barreto and Administrator Rev. Fr. Antonio Salema. In his keynote, Prof. Mendes commended the institution for offering a timely programme, highlighting how AI and OER are reshaping modern higher education.
The first two days were led by Dr. Osborne D’Souza, who introduced participants to prompt engineering and demonstrated platforms such as ChatGPT, Gamma.app and Elicit.com for academic presentations and research. He recommended Microsoft’s AI for Educators programme and emphasized the need for educators to upskill and adapt to emerging technologies.
On Day Three, Dr. Gaurang Patkar, Professor and Head of Computer Engineering, Don Bosco College of Engineering, Fatorda, conducted sessions on AI-powered leadership, neural networks and tools like Socrative, Plicker and Canva AI. He encouraged faculty to use AI as a co-pilot that enhances creativity and demonstrated simple Python-based exercises in machine learning and deep learning.
Day Four featured Mr. Ashwin Mushran, actor and voice artist, who delivered an engaging session titled Million Dollar Presence. He stressed the role of effective communication, warmth and capability in creating strong educator presence. The final two days were facilitated by Prof. Santhosh Kumar G, Department of Computer Science, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala and Prof. S. Senthilnathan, Director (In-charge), UGC-MMTTC, Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu. Prof. Santhosh discussed student-centred learning and demonstrated tools like Vids, QuestionWell, Notebook LM and AI Studio, along with hands-on activities on lesson planning and quizzes. Whereas, Prof. Senthilnathan introduced faculty to OER platforms including LOC, NDLI, SWAYAM, MIT OCW, MOOCs, Virtual Labs, Khan Academy, podcasts and blogs.
The valedictory session was graced by Shri Joshua D’Souza, Deputy Speaker, an alumnus and member of the college IQAC who praised the FDP as a game-changer for educators. The programme received positive feedback from internal and external participants.