Staff Sharing on 10 November 2008

Paul Ng

Paul’s teaching goals are for his students to:
1. Learn something new
2. Enjoy – have fun for both staff and students
3. Want to know more – and
4. Know how to find out more
5. Not fail (no to fail the course)

Paul’s teaching style are:
1. Fun & engagement. Paul engages his students by
a. Using Bluetooth remote control,
b. Using laser pointer,
c. Walking among the students,
d. Naming and asking students during the lecture, and
e. Soliciting student feedback

2. Do new stuff. Paul tries to introduce ‘new stuff’ like the following:
a. Google Docs (online office productivity)
b. Open Office (desktop office productivity)
c. Firefox (share book marks across computers, directly save video streams, scan web-pages for viruses and other malware, crash-resistant design)
d. Other free resources OUTSIDE MEL

3. Open and transparent.

4. Approachable & contactable – Paul releases his mobile number and MSN messenger contact so that he can be contactable when students need help.

5. ‘Dig deep’ – Paul gets down to the fundamentals, the basics for students to build a strong foundation.

Paul made use of the following techniques in his teaching:
1. Comics/jokes
2. Visual & sound effects
3. Newspaper articles
4. Hand out snacks for participation in lectures
5. Lecture slides downloaded with blanks to fill in
6. Use slides only available in lectures
7. Use of Notes to the slides as additional information
8. Play YouTube at the end of the lecture
9. Use of previous student projects
10. Wimba
11. Wiki
12. Guidance for tutorial answers in lectures
13. Guidance in MeL, after the relevant tutorial week
14. Students to mark the other students’ presentation using marking scheme
15. Reverse engineering of tutor’s answers – students work backwards form the tutors’ answers. Every component of every answer is allocated marks, so students also learn relative importance of different points and required depth of subject
16. Give component checklist after common test

Paul practiced what he preached during the sharing sessions: he was standing in the midst of his audience, using the laser pointer and showing us comic strips. :-)

Geok Lian

Geok Lian started the sharing by challenging us with 2 quotes:

“The children today love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority. They show disrespect for their elders, and love to chatter in place of exercise.” (Scorates)

“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They talk as if they know everything.” (Mathew Paris)

How do we bridge the mind-gap? Geok Lian thinks that it is through belief and faith. Belief is to believe in ourselves and in the students that all of us want to succeed and we can succeed. Faith is a refusal to give up (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks), refusal to give up on those whom we are facilitating to learn. And it is also to continue without failing, and if we fail, we just try again.

Education is a journey of hope. And as educators, we should help students to:
· Find and take ownership of their strengths
· Overcome their fears
· Believe they can

Geok Lian thinks that the key to effective learning is to tie the learner to the learning by helping the students connect in a meaningful way with the information to be studied. She used Cost Accounting to illustrate how students can relate to the topics based on their own interests.

Geok Lian shared tips on how to help students with different learner types:
· Assiduous – to give additional practice (reflect & ruminate; share)
· Indifferent – try to involve & engage
· Diffident – try to develop & spur

Geok Lian’s food for thought for the audience is that ‘the educated person of the 21st century is one who can find out anything – and then use it effectively” and we need to produce balanced learners with active understanding.

Geok Lian’s parting thought: “To be empowered for life, replace the fear of failure with behaviours that embrace and control change.”

Fook Sun

Fook Sun shared his Academic Award (Development) module – International Business Study Mission (IBSM). IBSM is a 3rd year full-coursework module for all 3rd year BA students. It offers a multi-layered learning opportunity that motivates and excites students to learn about International Business in an innovative and experiential way.

There are 3 key components for this module: Pre-Trip Learning Workshop, the Study Trip and the Post-Trip Activities.

IBSM adopts a Learner-Centred-Learning (LCL) approach that emphasizes learning by doing, conversing, exploring and reflection through research, brainstorming, discussions and feedback at various points of their learning journey.

The objectives for IBSM are:
1. To provide students the opportunity to acquire first-hand knowledge and an appreciation of the business environment and business opportunities in a foreign country.
2. To help students develop a global business mindset by visiting a foreign country and by exposure to the vibrancy and dynamism of fast-growing economies.
3. To elevate learning from classroom discussions to on-site education through visits to business and industrial establishments and industrial parks, as well as through interaction and networking sessions with local business managers, entrepreneurs, government officials and country experts.
4. To provide students the opportunity to observe, learn and understand a foreign culture, business etiquette and managerial practices.
5. To foster student and staff bonding through a highly enriching overseas business study trip.
6. To network with Singaporean business people and local managers in order to appreciate the value and importance of networking skills.

Fook Sun shared that 6 successful IBSM trips have been organized to-date. The study mission includes: visit to Singapore companies, foreign multi-national companies, big- and medium-sized local companies, trade exhibitions, wholesale markets/retail markets, cultural & historical places, interaction with local students, and networking session with S’pore business people. Fook Sun also shared a video of the IBSM trips.

To Fook Sun and his team, the 4 Rs that made IBSM a success are:
· Relevance – focus on international business.
· Reinforcement – ensure students remember knowledge, have students repeat what they have learned through the various pre-trip, during-trip and post-trip activities.
· Research – research on the region, company and project topic. Students are also required to work out the questions they would like to ask the companies during visits.
· Relationship – make use of the various opportunities for students to bond and network with each other.

Staff Sharing on 28 April 2008

Louisa

My Learning Journey – Take the attitude of a student. Never be too big to ask questions. Never know too much.

Louisa used the word DIFFERENCE to share her teaching experience.

Dramatise – use of story. In order to introduce personal relief to the students, Louisa told the story of Mr. Loh Mah Ngee. Mr. Loh earns income and therefore income relief. Mr. Loh married his girl friend. Husband and wife both working, therefore double income relief. After having children, the Lohs could enjoy child relief.

Inspire – she encourages the students to work as a team and do not wait for people to take the lead.

Just for Fun & serious Fun – use of jokes/cartoons/video and games. Games include: tax pyramid (need to describe tax terms to fellow classmates), tic tax toe, collages, jigsaw, work maze (for tax terms students need to be familiar with), crossword puzzle (definitions). The games played are simple to make and easy to play.

Exercise – non-graded exercises were used in lectures. Students can discuss tutorial exercises answers with their friends for topics which are more difficult. Louisa felt that this is a non-intrusive way of learning.

Resource – for Tax 2. Tax 2 tutors had to repeat explanation of concepts many times. To reduce the repetition, Macromedia Captivate was used to illustrate step-by-step procedures.

Engage – In order to engage the students, multimedia presentation on tax content with games were used.

New perspectives – technical terms are sometimes difficult to grasp. Therefore, logic was used to explain formula/concepts to help the students understand.

Change/Explore – review and improve lecture slides. Louisa also explored different areas to improve the module especially with the LcL initiative:
1. Students to summarise and share tutorial &
2. Students to develop 2 tutorial questions.

Elan

Elan did a hands-on demo on Blackboard, tapping on the potential of the many features, some of which are underutilised. Elan showed staff how to use Blackboard/MeL for online receipt, marking, grading, return & archiving of projects/assignments & tracking of continuous assessment:

1. Receiving assignments online – including multimedia presentation, url links, digitized object images, etc.
2. Downloading documents from GradeBook.
3. Marking/commenting on the documents with comments or even voice clips.
4. Assigning marks/grade to students.
5. E-portfolio - Students can keep a portfolio to showcase the work done
6. Gradebook - Students can also check for their own grades for assignments submitted online
7. Use of Content Management to keep module contents.

If you need to find out any special feature, our ITIC guru would be more than pleased to assist you.

Staff Sharing on 16 Nov 2007

Ben Tan

SIMPLICITY is Ben’s teaching philosophy. He was inspired by Robert Fulghums’ book “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”. Keeping things simple would allow the students to learn better and more effectively.

Ben also shared that students learn best:

1. When they can see the end of the tunnel. So he gets the students to begin with the end in mind. He ensures that they know why they need to learn the topics.

2. Thru the Path of least resistance.
- Show students how applicable the module is to their lives NOW. Buying a house might not be of interest to the students but buying a car is!
- Reduce unnecessary uncertainties. That means to make expectations as clear as possible. He ensures that students know exactly how they will be assessed - the exam format and project assessment criteria are some of the examples Ben gave.
- Eliminate “good to have” but not essential information. Ben has taken great pains to tidy up his PowerPoint slides, notes and tutorial questions. This allows students to concentrate on Ben and his explanation rather than be bogged down by all the content in the slides.

3. When everyone is respectful and considerate. It means taking control of lecture. If a student talks, Ben will not hesitate to invite the student out of the LT, for the benefit of other students who are keen to learn.

Ben shared that he never forgets his mission and his purpose of being an educator. He puts the students as his first priority. Ben also shares his personal experiences with his students so that his students will find it easy to relate to him.


Ng Lai Leng












Lai Leng began by sharing that she has taught all three Economics modules – Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and International Economics & Finance since she joined NP. And she has learnt more about Economics not through her school days but by teaching it. “To teach is to learn twice” - Joseph Joubert

Let’s find out about Lai Leng’s teaching philosophy:

- Students are her number 1 priority
- Go to class with a cheerful heart – smile. It will brighten your students’ day.
- Be patient with students. She will “talk” to students if they demonstrate persistent negative behavior.
- Create a light-hearted atmosphere and make students comfortable in their learning environment. For example, students are free to present/work on tutorial questions which they feel they have greater confidence in, rather than having questions assigned to them by the tutor.
- “It’s okay not to get the right answers right away, so long as you learn something at the end of the class.” That also applies to incomplete answers.
- Recognise that each student is different, and treat each with respect.
- Show genuine concert for the students. That means lecturers have to invest time and effort in students.
- Use of positive reinforcement to encourage the right attitudes and behavior from the students.
- Not to be overly critical - “A wise person gets known for his insight, gracious words add to one’s reputation”. Proverbs 16:4
- The right to criticise – earn it through exemplary behavior. For example, a lecturer should not be late, if he expects the students to be punctual for class.
- Be ready to admit mistakes. Lecturers are human after all.

Lai Leng also shared how she made Economics come alive by the use of pictures, newspaper articles, YouTube videos and even home-made videos.

This is one poem which Lai Leng would like to share and it will definitely speak to you:

I will not yell in class
I will not throw things
I will not get mad
I will be good
Because I'm the teacher

Summary of Staff Sharing on 25th July 2007

Linda Ng

What makes a student – nature or nurture? Or is it a combination of both?

Linda is of the view that nature is the foundation and nurture is what we add on to the students. If we merely look at the nature part of the students, chances of disappointment will be very high. Therefore, we have to go through the long and arduous process of nurturing our students.

How does she nurture the students? Confucius says ‘When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself’ and ‘Whatever you do, do with all your heart’. We put in as much time, effort to help the students regardless of their abilities or attributes.

However, the learning process is also important. Linda has been teaching accounting modules for the last few semesters. What does she get her students to do so that they could be ‘perfect’? Linda has built up a database of past-year papers that students can access for added practice. She also puts in additional elements such as Mel quiz, games, etc. for each topic. Linda likes to ‘question’ students so that students put on their ‘thinking cap’.

One thing Linda did is worth trying. She divided the students into groups. Students will compete with each other to come up with the best answer. The best team will be spared the “penalty”. The rest of the teams will go through different degrees of “penalty” (depending on how well they have answered the question). What is the “penalty”? Well, we’ll leave it to your imagination.

William Lim

“We learn by teaching” (James Howell), this is a quote William feels carries much meaning for him.

William’s teaching motto is to be REAL.
Realism – when introducing ‘boring’ topics like financial analysis & ratios, instead of telling the students how to analyze and interpret the figures, William will show e.g. a video from Reuters. The video clips transform theory into application & practice.

Enthusiasm – he believes that a lecturer’s enthusiasm helps students to be more interested in the subject. William keeps his enthusiasm high by attending relevant courses to inject knowledge learned in teaching. Also, he prepares for students’ presentation by going through the student’s research materials with them and asking thought-provoking questions, which will excite the students to put in even more effort for their projects.

Availability – being able to ‘connect’ with students. Students need time and space to talk to the lecturers. William feels that connecting with the students reassures them when they have problems, e.g. when they are anxious during the exam period.

Lifelong learning – the greatest resistance in relearning and learning of new skills is oneself. We need to gather feedback from e.g. SET for improvement in our teaching. One thing William has learned and applied in his teaching is the use of mind map. Service-learning is another area William is interested in; he hopes to infuse learning through service.

A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops. Henry Adams

Staff Sharing by Jenny and Jin Yi

Module – Programming Business Applications (PBA) shared by Jenny Lam

PBA, a first-year BIT module aims to provide students with an overview of modular and event-driven programming concepts. It is based on capturing and responding interactively to user input on Windows form; C#.NET is the programming language used.

Jenny believes that students seem to learn best when their curiosity is aroused and they see the linkage between the module materials and their lives.

Jenny shared on one of the topics taught in the module - Data Validation, which involves a program that operates on clean, correct and useful data. It checks for correctness or meaningfulness of data that are input into the system.

In Data Validation, one useful linkage and application to students’ lives is their NRIC number, where the letter appended behind the 7-digit number serves as a ‘check’ on the validity and correctness of the numbers. Using an algorithm, this letter is calculated using the sum of the product of the first seven digits, and their respective weights and taking MODULUS ELEVEN (11).

NRIC
9 8 0 0 5 4 7

Weight
2 7 6 5 4 3 2

Product
18 56 0 0 20 12 14

Adding the products together would obtain 120 which in turn taking modulus eleven (i.e. divided by 11) would yield a remainder of 10. Deducting the remainder of 10 from 11 would give a check digit of 1.

The conversion table converts the check digit into the corresponding alphabet:

Check digit
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Alphabet
A B C D E F G H I Z J

Therefore, the NRIC number of 9800547 should end with a letter ‘A’. This example never fails to excite the students and spur them on to want to learn more about PBA.

In addition, Jenny also demonstrated how she uses simple programming language with the help of interesting pictures in Visual Studio to excite students.



Module – Corporate Finance & Advisory Services (CFAS) shared by Choo-Chao Jin Yi

CFAS, a third-year BFS module aims to equip students with a good working knowledge and understanding of the principles of corporate finance and the types of advisory services.

Jin Yi believes that learning should be fun and students learn best through games. Thus the highlight of the module is the project which requires students to design GAMES, be it a Board Game, an Electronic Game, a 3m x 3m Floor Game, etc. that encapsulate their understanding of CFAS, as well as integrate other BFS modules and concepts in Business Law, Financial Markets & Services, Investments, etc.

These games typically require students to apply the various corporate finance principles that they have learnt and could involve areas such as Initial Public Offer (IPO), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Rights Issue, etc. In addition, students are required to reflect on their designs through the Mel discussion forum in areas of usefulness as well as entrepreneurial application.

Jin Yi shared that the tremendous effort put into these projects have paid off handsomely, as some of these games have drawn accolades from industry when submitted for competitions. Some CFAS Board Games have been shortlisted for presentation at the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Award competition and have served to be an inspiration for both staff and students. A recent 3m x 3m floor game titled “World of Finance” was eloquently explained and presented by Jerry Chua (a current third-year BFS student), in person, to the hugely intrigued audience who attended the sharing session. This game was inspired by games featured at the MoneySENSE Roadshow on campus, facilitated by the second and third year BFS students.

AA Receipients Sharing Session on 31 Oct 2006

Dr Tan started the sharing session off with his three fatherly beliefs: 1. do not scold the students; 2. love them & treat them like your own kids; and 3. encourage the students to do well.

Dr. Tan made use of video clips to demonstrate that we have to affirm our students’ abilities so that they can change their limiting belief (‘I can’t do it!’) to positive self-image. [Click here to view the video clip]



Seok Ling first identified our students as being in the Y/Z generation. Many of the students are from lower income group. Many of them are also very much influenced by the media.

Working with the Y generation students, Seok Ling asked herself “I am not like them, I may not like what they do or their attitude, but can I try to understand and empathize with them?”


Seok Ling used PASSION to illustrate how she relates to her students.

Passion – that is why she is called to the profession
Articulation – being clear in teaching is the fundamental task
Sensitivity – being sensitive to how students feel, especially the weaker students.
Sense of Humour – it might not be a joke but an act to receive a response or reaction from the students.
Innovation – the use of many ways of delivery, e.g., lecture-on-demand, games, flash video, PBL
Opportunity – make available each incidence as a learning opportunity
kNowledge – profound statement from Seok Ling “I have to be a learner to be an effective facilitator to the learners”.




Jeffrey shared his 3Ms in teaching:

Management of Class

In a class room, there is a community of learners (students). They should be treated as rational adults with the ability to reason. Students should be able to be who they are and there should not be ‘labeled’ (good student, bad student, etc). Students are also encouraged to use their common sense to carry out their tasks.


Motivation of class

Students’ interest in a topic should be cultivated by the lecturer. The usefulness of the module or topic should also be illustrated. For example, Jeffrey showed the students how to apply risk management in real life.

Lecturers/tutors should also encourage students and tell them that they can do well in the module, and mean it too.

Manner of delivery

Honest – everybody makes mistakes. Don’t be afraid to admit your fault if you do.
Candid – be spontaneous
Sincere – mean what you say and don’t ‘black-list’ students
Simplify – break down a complex idea into sub parts so that they are easier to grasp and understand. Most importantly, keep the main thing the main thing.

Module Sharing by Lai Soen and Henry on 15 Aug 2006

Sharing by Lai Soen (Cost & Management Accounting)

Lai Soen shared about the industrial visits arranged by the CMA team. The purpose of the visits was to provide experiential learning in some of the Cost & Management Accounting topics. The team visited Apple Computer, SPH Printing Centre and Fraser N Neave (F & N). Lai Soen’s sharing focused on the visit to F & N.

The F & N visit was an option for the CMA students. The visit to F & N had to be organized at least 6 months ahead of time in order to book the desired time slot with the company.

In the F & N visit, the students were shown the assembly line for bottling of concentrates and syrups, the automated assembly line, the automated warehousing system and the distribution system. This tour has enabled students to broaden their perspective of CMA, on the topic of product costing, where raw materials are processed and turned into finished goods.

After the tour, the students had to participate in a competition. Students were divided into groups and each group had to choose an icon from a list of famous people or characters. The list includes Tom Cruise, Mickey Mouse, Samurai and even our SM Lee. The objective is to produce a drink (Coca-Cola) befitting the market segment that relates well with the icon. The winning team came up with their version of Coke - ginseng Coke with SM Lee as the icon.

From the competition, the CMA students have learned that marketing can be expensive and Coca-Cola must have in place an effective marketing plan to ensure that the desired ROMI (return on market investment) is attained. Students also learned about the breakeven analysis concept for vending machines.

Feedback from the students of the F & N visit was very positive: 84% of the students found that the visit was informative; 83% of the students will recommend this factory visit to other students; 81% of the students were more familiar with CMA concepts after attending the factory visit; and 72% of the student found that the visit has helped them understand that CMA/MA knowledge is relevant.


Sharing by Henry (Interactive Business Skills)

IBS is a 3rd year compulsory module for our BS students. In this module, students have no exams or tests to sit for, no textbooks to buy, and should not fail if they are diligent in carrying out the assigned tasks.

IBS is a CA module. The assessment on the business etiquette and networking skills is 30%. The other 70% of the assessment is from the role-play. The students would role-play as B2B sales executives trying to sell their products or services to their customers (tutors). Each student needed to create a scenario on the intended product/service. After the scenario is approved by the tutor, the student would need to make a data gathering call. The student would spend about 15 minutes to find out the fundamental needs from the client (the tutor) in order to put up a meaningful proposal. The tutor would provide feedback and an indicative grade to the student immediately after the first call.

After gathering the necessary information, the student would then need to make the solution selling call which would usually take up about 20 minutes. In this call, the student would use all the persuasion skills they have learned to engage the client in buying her/his product or service. Again, the tutor would give immediate feedback and an indicative grade after the second call.

Henry also shared that there are three learning stages in the art of persuasion. The first stage is the “awkward” stage: when the students are not used to the various skills and find it difficult to perform the tasks. The second stage is the “conscious” stage. In this stage, the students are more familiar with what they have learned and they try to put their skills into practice. The final stage is the “natural” stage where the skills learned would have been internalized by the students. However, Henry commented that the students need much practice in order to reach the final stage. Most of our students are at the “conscious” stage.

Finally, Henry shared some issues he faced. First was the objectivity issue. However, this issue is resolved by trusting the tutors’ professionalism. The second issue was the stress on both the students and the tutors with the role-play. Students perceived IBS as a stressful module because they had to perform the sales calls and interact with the tutors individually. As for the tutors, they had to wear multiple hats all at the same time. They had to be the actor (act as the client), the assessor (give grade) and the commentator (provide feedback), all in a 15-minute sales call. The third issue was about time. The role-play model was very time intensive. This was especially so when they had to ask the students who failed the sales call to repeat the call again.

Quoting from Henry, IBS will change the students’ life and they will never be the same again after the module. The students would have acquired the necessary persuasion skills, know how to carry themselves in a business environment and avoid getting themselves into embarrassing situations in a cocktail party or a formal dinner setting.




Summarized by: Jeannie Wong
Vetted by: Ng Lai Leng