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.