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