The Last Lecture

In the 'original' The Last Lecture, it was inspired by Randy Pausch.

But for this last lecture of PXGT6110 course, I would like to tribute all the inspiration to all coursemates and not forgetting Mdm Ng who has been instrumental throughout this course.

Looking back to what we have explored together, I'm grateful that I was exposed to pedagogical concepts such as Personalised Learning Environment (PLE), TPACK (thanks for the review by Te again), Flipped classroom, blended learning environment; web 2.0 tools such as Wikispace, Schoology, Pixton, Goanimate, Toondoo, Edmodo, Story Bird... man... that's many!

I do hope in the very near future I would pick up these tools to really implement in my teachings. In fact, I've already planning to incorporate Schoology in my UM research (so, thank you so much Dee!). The next one will probably be GoAnimate which personally I find myself too attracted to it.

So once again, I do hope going through the whole MIT course, I'll join the ranks of:

Week 13: Today I Learn, Today I Question

MINGGU TEKNOLOGI

& tons of videos to share! ^_^

Reading the Horizon Report was a pleasure. I'm excited about the technological possibilities and potentials that are coming our way. I was surprise that the introduction of the flexible screen technology by Samsung is just around the corner. Reminds me of the videos I always share with my students during class. And they luv this kind of video!

The Pranav Mistry TED talk I too showed my students. But I stop showing after iphone2 came out... But in the earlier stage, my students liked it too and were very excited with the ideas.

There has been lots of development and interest in augmented reality. And when combined with mobile technology, I think a whole new frontier to our lifestyle, the way we do things, get things done, and definitely the way we teach & learn!

Augmented reality & mobile technology combo

Here's a video on augmented reality map that makes google map very outdated.

Actually I'm more interested in the augmented reality (combine with gesture technology), especially the one shown in the Iron man movie (Iron Man augmented reality table). Will eagerly anticipate that one day, our science labs & even classroom are equipped with these augmented reality table.

Probably the one that I'm looking forward most of all is Learning analytics. Here's an excerpt just in case you have not read that part:

...The goal  of  learning  analytics  is  to  enable  teachers  and schools  to  tailor  educational  opportunities  to  each student’s level of need and ability... The  larger  promise  of  learning  analytics,  however, is  that  when  correctly  applied  and  interpreted,  it will enable faculty to more precisely identify student learning  needs  and  tailor  instruction  appropriately. This has implications not simply for individual student performance, but in how educators perceive teaching, learning, and assessment. By offering information in real time, learning analytics can support immediate alterations, suggesting a model of curriculum that is more fluid and open to change...

Next was reading the Malaysian Smart School Roadmap: 2005-2020, which was really an inspiring (initially) and disheartening (most of the part) experience. Inspiring because felt grateful that Malaysia does have people who are ambitious and very far-sighted. Disheartening because... you should know... if you are a Malaysian.

Among the components in Smart School, the Teaching-Learning process is the first mentioned:

...are reinvented to help students learn more effectively and efficiently. The Smart School enable students to practice self-accessed and self-directed learning, at their own learning pace...

...management and administration of the Smart School ... is computerised...

According to the Roadmap, we teachers are supposed to create a teaching-learning environment that can provide the following:

• Education, not in the sense of acquiring “knowledge for knowledge sake” but rather to respect knowledge and to have an awareness of the uses knowledge can have for personal and societal gain. 
• Teaching-learning that engages and drives students to want to know more.
• Education not for the sake of passing examinations and scoring excellent grades but one that will help the child meet challenges effectively. (pg 25)

Frankly, I felt I'm terrible at delivering the above. These are the ultimate education aspiration. But I don't find myself being trained to do that... Is there training to train teachers to deliver the above?

Being a teacher since 2007, I never knew that I was supposed to teach in a Smart School by 2010...

...Wave 3: Making all schools smart...

By 2010, Malaysia is expected to have 10,000 smart schools...

...In the original Implementation Plan, the Ministry of Education would use the findings of the Pilot Project to prepare a Master Plan to ensure that all schools in the country become smart schools in stages, by the year 2010...

It's end of 2011 now, the actual figure of the supposingly 'Smart School'?

What happened to the pilot test schools?

It's mentioned that ICT-enabled teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) was supposed to be an enhancement efforts by various parties to expand the role of ICT in Malaysian schools. Did Malaysia just click the 'undo' button??

Honestly, as a teacher who is trying to embrace technology in T&L, I find myself very much alone on this mission... But I'll like to emphasise that studying MIT did make me feel less lonely in this sense. =)

Week 12: Today I Learn, Today I Question

Blended Learning - Offering the Best of Both Worlds

Blended Learning - the merging of the best of both worlds ie face-to-face and online learning into one. I think the following diagram sums it all for blended learning, neat and tidy!

Isn't something very difficult for me to accept. To me, it's highly logical that our pedagogical approach should be based on blended learning. This is mainly because technology, or more specifically, going online, has become part of our lifestyle. I would like to think that beside the rational of trying to incorporate technology to enhance learning, why not just allow technology into T&L for sake that technology & online is part of our lifestyle. My argument is, we are already using so much of technology & online for various tasks and purposes in our life, why not embrace technology for education too? Would education be not so isolated, obsoleted and alienated if technology is part of the core in T&L? Found another diagram which incorporates mobile devices: 

While I'm writing this blog entry, I'm slowly being aware and understood the reason for my fatigue and burn-out of late. I've, not being aware of it, pushing myself too hard in all my tasks. I was forcing and squeezing too much from myself. I found myself fallen into the trap of (being a MIT student) wanting to incorporate technology into every aspect of my T&L pedagogy. And being trapped in the mindset that 'it is NOT OK if there's no element of technology' in my pedagogy. And where has the sincerity to teach and help my students gone? Where has the driver gone?

Is it possible that technology just comes naturally into T&L, instead of it being purposeful, and to certain extend, forcefully?

I believe that the sincere of heart to help our students become a better person is the main guiding light for us to become a better teacher.

Week 11: Today I Learn, Today I Question

Mdm Ng started the class by drowning us with tons of information!!! It's a big big world in the cyberspace! 

Then we got 'flipped' by Shakirah! Everyone was trying to regain their balance, hence the commotion! Sorry Shakirah, we were'nt try to make life difficult for you, the fact is, I'm (maybe we) a skeptical person. Possibly stemmed from years of training in sciences. We question every single bit of information! =p However, would like to position myself in a "neutrally skeptical" stance.

Flipped classroom, inverts traditional teaching methods, delivering instruction online outside of class and moving “homework” into the classroom. Luv the idea! To me, it bring a completely breath of fresh air, a simple tweak in teaching ideology, although the idea might have existed long time ago prior to the 'flipped' terminology. But again, I'll like to keep my reservation, simple tweak in ideology, but may bring radical changes in our T&L approach. Teachers will be "teaching" differently ==> the incorporation of web 2.0 tools, videos, facilitating students' learning in classrooms; students' approach to learning will differ too as they learn via virtual online platform, discussing homework in classroom setting, clarifying their doubts mainly in classroom rather than the usual after class etc.. I'm cautious here because there's so many fantastic, dynamic and good idea out there, in this context, pedagogical approach. Just because a certain idea/thing is good does not mean we gotta straight away jump onto the bandwagon. Taking the analogy of investment, there are claims that

• investing in property is good
• investing in shares is good
• investing in gold is good
• investing in franchise business is good etc

But we all know that it's not that straight forward. As to be successful and to reap the rewards from the investment, one have to master the secrets of the trade. Even reading and attending class on one doesn't guarantee success in this aspect. It takes years of experience, it takes time, effort and concerted reflection. People can point the way, but you must walk the way. It should be similar in the context of education. Just because it is a good and effective pedagogy, one shouldn't blindly take the plunge.

I've identified at least three critical success area (aka assumptions) for flipped classroom to be effective (in my current context):

Students

• Need to increase their responsibility in learning. 
• Need to take the initiatives to prepare themselves before every lesson. 
• Need to be able to learn independently in the online setting (watch lecture videos/ read learning materials etc 

Teachers

• Need to master the secrets of what makes an effective 'flipped' classroom
• Need to be more dedicated in spending more time to prepare the learning aids material
• Need to put in more effort in planning each lesson, both in-class activities & out-of-class activities/materials

Infrastructure

• Students to have access to the internet, preferably at home

Did look up more on 'flipped' classroom, and chance upon an article on Science 2.0. Hey, the people who coined the idea, both Aaron Sams and Jonathan Bergmann are Chemistry teachers!! Wow! Now I'm motivated. =p

So to flip or not to flip? 

==> Gotta first strap myself with safety belt before I flip. Safety always comes first, you know! =p

Week 10: Today I Learn, Today I Question

            This week, it was Dee’s turn to present. I think Dee may have unearthed an unpolished diamond to us (or at the very least to me) during the class. Schoology, the potential facebook for education! Although its attributes has yet been fully discovered or explored, but I’m crossing my fingers that this web 2.0 tool is the tool that has almost (if not all) the features that I’m looking for. Guessed I’ll be spending my holiday on it. ^_^

By the way, talking about tools for web 2.0, Mdm Ng did share “The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book” by Terry Freedman, and you know, a few days prior to this, Radziah, a UM course mate, too shared a similar pdf book, “Web 2.0 tools for Education: A quick guide” made locally by Mohamed Amin Ebmi, from UKM. Call it “the secret’ (made popular by Rhonda Byrne) or what? First, this Web 2.0 handbook, then the Web 2.0 tool “Schoology”, then another Web 2.0 handbook.

After watching the Web 2.0 video, thoughts flashes through: we are not embracing the potential of web 2.0 at all! Why? We are not collaborating world wide, we are not communicating with global individual, we are not providing the opportunity to our students to connect world wide in terms of education. And this prompted me to recall a video “Productivity Future Vision 2011” shared to me by my student. Somehow, this video has a profound effect on me. This video shows a vision on the way we do things/work/learn in the near future. They are envisioning the lifestyle of people embracing these technology, which prompts me to ask: what about those who don’t? What about those who doesn’t have them/couldn’t afford them? Would it create a bigger digital gap between those who embrace ICT and the rest of them?

Those who embrace it	Those who embrace not
Those who know how use it	Those who know not
Those who have it	Those who have not

Again, I find myself being asked of the many questions that was been asked in the video “Did you know 2.0?”, prominently, are we, as educator, preparing our students the  necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes for the coming era?

Week 8: Today I Learn, Today I Question

It's so easy to stop to take a rest. By the time you have a look at the time, you'll have the shock of your life how fast time flies! (KJ actually wanted to point readers to the 'isi tersirat' of did we realize that we are already approaching our 30s, some already in their 30s, 40s, 50s... ??)
Well, the past one week, which 'coincidentally' was our mid sem break. (p/s: loved the pic that Mdm Ng put up in spectrum in the mid sem break, but... did it somehow hypnotized me??) Now trying to recall the last moment of me something to do with 'UM' was my stats's mid-term exam. In which after that, I decided to take a 'short' break. Looking back then, it felt so many things have happened then, yet it felt it was just yesterday. All felt like a dream!


I'm struggling with terms to get back in 'reality'... I'm starting to wonder: Am I experiencing exactly the same thing as a drug addict of 'not wanting to come back to reality'? The feeling of spiraling down the abyss is intoxicating... It's so easy: just let it be...


So, trying to knock some sense back into myself, I quickly have a look at what my other course mates have posted on their blogs. My my! Okay... Now I remember, I did miss something, or rather, the second half of the last class (due to my stats exam).


Instructional design (ID)... to me, is actually an encompassing term which basically can be applied in a lot of things we do. One of the popular ID framework is ADDIE. (don't know what is ADDIE? Try google it and you'll find tons of information about it on the web)


Anyway, here's a quick summary of ADDIE model in ID

There's also Kemp's Instructional Design Model, which is slightly more comprehensive. 

Personally I prefer Kemp's ID Model as I liked the model explicitly point out the critical factors to consider such as learners characteristics, content sequencing and designing the message during ID process.

Regardless of which ID model, the fundamental ID process is of an iterative one, or in other words, a never ending process. (Man! It just made me felt so fatigue!)

Actually, I had some experience with ID from Dr Farrah's class. It was a wonderful journey, and often an inspiring one. Allow me to share a few quotes which I think is fundamental to ID:

“The goal of instructional design is to make learning more efficient and effective and to make learning less difficult.”

“ID focuses on determining what knowledge are skills are needed to solve the instructional problem (to improve learning) instead of focusing on the content”

Morrison, Ross and Kemp

Designing Effective Instruction, 5th edition

And the gist of all is the “a soul-like” feeling given by Inouye, Merrill, and Swan (2005): 

“Help has always been and should be the central concern of instructional design theory” and 

“helping others to learn is the very reason for the existence of instructional design theory”

These quotes gives me positive vibes, as 'Help', is a simple word, known by virtually everyone who knows the language, even young kids knew them as it is likely one of the first few words they learn in their life. However, help, in its simplest and purest form, acted with kind and noble intention, is hardly seen as the main concern in almost any profession or career as we know today, not to mention widely practiced intention. I must admit that, after years of being a front-line educator, the sense of purpose of “to help (in its simplest and purest form) my students learn better” has dramatically disappear.

In fact, Yusop & Correia (2010) did proposed a Civic-Minded Instructional Designers (CMID) framework: paradigm and qualities necessary to civic-minded instructional designers

This framework pin points the role and qualities of a instructional designer, in which educators are always a member of it. It has always been my belief that graduates were the future leaders of the community, that we were supposed to be the agent of change, that it was our duty to catalyze changes for the betterment of the society (macro context). It was my belief that graduates are to contribute towards a better society. But the reality that I'm facing is, it is frustrating, and at the same time, demotivating, to realize that I could hardly bring any positive changes to my micro context, ie the school I am teaching in. At times, the limited capabilities that I have is highly overwhelmed by the unsatisfactory social context which I am in. Well, all I could conclude is that currently I'm not versatile as I aspire to be to handle the challenges that I'm facing in my teaching profession. 

“Methods in instructional design theories are probabilistic rather than deterministic… situational rather than universal”

Reigeluth 

As I'm aware that there's no best pedagogy in the world, since each context is unique, and require tailor-made approach (instructional design) to deal with it. I think instructional designer need to be versatile in their approach in designing and implementing instructional experience.

To sum up, I guess, to be a good teacher, I need to be a versatile civic-minded instructional designer...

Ok, so let's move on to joining the dots for what we have learned so far from this course. Among the models & conceptual framework such as Donaldson & Conrad's Model of Engagement, Mishra & Koehler's TPACK, PLE and ID, probably the instructional design framework should be blended into the background, with TPACK as the main guiding framework using PLE as the T&L concept and Donaldson & Conrad model in the Tech & Pedagogical approach.

Week 7: Today I Learn, Today I Question

I'll like to start off with a special note: 

I am very grateful that Mdm Ng was extremely generous in helping us source for more materials about PLE.

This week’s focus on was on How: Designing of a web-based environment for learning & Usability, a topic which I’ve been looking forward for a long time. And it was Yee Hui’s session to present on the topic. When it comes to how, Yee Hui showed us many examples of websites where we engage in “website critique”. We were very excited! Good job Yee Hui!

However, as we ‘browse’ through the examples of website, I soon came to realise that the more dynamic a website is, the steeper the learning curve (And by the way, does a dynamic website equate to an effective website?) Lurking behind the learning curve is the time cost. At the end, I couldn’t help but to arrive at the conclusion that technology can just suck the life out of you!

Would we/ Are we ending up something like this?

If you think creating one is challenging enough, think again. Maintenance of a site is equally a daunting task if not more! (I’m saying this based on my experience in managing the FB group for my group’s Assignment 3)

Yee Hui has actually created many sites, many which are of abandoned site after some time. You know what, I do not know what to feel. It prompted me to ask:

“What would be the fate of the FB group?” (In fact, I had two abandoned googlesites from previous assignments. Or is it fair to classified it as abandoned since it has served it’s short term purposes?)

In the ‘real’ world, abandoned construction site is an eye sore. In the virtual world, what are the implications of these abandoned sites? Is it ok to leave these ‘junks’ in the virtual world?

Anyway, I am sure there’s many good websites out there, some where in the WWW, that would serve our course. My guessing is, some of these websites are white elephants waiting to serve its purpose.

Week 6: Today I Learn, Today I Question

PLE: Personalised Learning Environment


is a new term I came across because of PXGT6110, in Mdm Ng's class.
I have my equal share of both hate and love in my first encounter with it. 





Hate it, because I found it to be very confusing in the academic text. (Maybe I'm reading too much/too shallow into it?)


I'll still like to quote what Barnard (2005) said about PLE:

"It is said that a precise definition of personalised learning is not needed in order to make it work"

(KJ says: What the ....... !??!!), 

was my first response towards Barnard's quote.

It wasn't making much sense until Mdm Ng prompted us and pointed that some of us might have unconsciously applied PLE in our T&L. After a simple discussion, we do reliased that, to a certain extend, we have applied certain element of PLE in our T&L. What we didn't know was we did not purposely and fully capitalised on it.

(read prologue: before the love)
Love it, because the concept/idea proposed is something I intuitively felt what and how learning should be.The concept is also something I toyed with years ago. So it was kinda, hey, the idea is REAL! It's out there!


PLE concept of learners learn at their own pace (& style too!) pointed out the subtle difference with other learning concept such as individualised learning. As a teacher, I knew that different students have different learning style and differ in their learning pace too. And as a teacher, I am supposed to tailor make my lessons to suit my students. In which I felt so burdened as I only had a vague idea of their learning preferences. Having said that, having a vague idea does not equate to able to cater to their learning styles and needs. But PLE crafted out a difference in terms of learning responsibility. It took out a great chunk of responsibility from the teacher to tailor make suitable learning style for individual students and tweaked the idea of why not allow each learner to create their own learning ground? The instructor's role would be to identify suitable learning ground, set the general parameters and allow the learner to 'build' their own learning ground. What I loved so much about this is it will create a greater sense of familiarity, ownership, belonging, comfort and ease to the learner. It just felt so right!


====================================================
Prologue: Before the love

I was so frustrated with the concept of PLE from the articles until Dee enlightened me!

In Dee's response to  "What is PLE to you" posted by Mdm Ng, 

Dee's understanding of PLE: 

"it is the learner's autonomy to create his/her own learning ground." 

Saved the (my) day! Couldn't thank her enough. ^_^

====================================================

My Doubts and My Question

As pointed out by Reigeluth, our current education system is designed for sorting, not really for learning. I'm of the opinion that our current education system, particularly the assessment system, needs major restructuring if PLE were to play a bigger role.
Or is it that I'm not seeing the wonders of PLE? That it does not get restrained by the shackles of educational system and structure?

Week 5: Today I Learn, Today I Question

Basically, last week was a week full of inspiration! Why? I must thank Mdm Ng for sharing the TPACK video with us. Loved it so much!
Would like to share those very words that inspires me from the TPACK video:


Thinking Creatively: Teachers as designers Content, Technology and Pedagogy
Matthew J. Koehler & Punya Mishra


1. Technology, Pedagogy & Content are all complex and messy stuff!!!
What a mess I got myself into!!? O_O


2. Quality teaching is the act of learning to think in a disciplined manner
I'm a self-confess fan of metacognition. If the recommended book "Learning to think" by Janet Gail Donald is really that good, would definitely love to get my hands on one. 


3. In solving teaching problem, the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. ~Linus Pauling~
That's a pretty good idea that I've never thought of! You know what, I've always tried to get the best idea by just focusing on one! This simple idea just opened up a whole lot of thinking dimension!


4. Creativity
   - Novel (unique, radical, revolutionary, influential, pioneering)
   - Effective
   - Whole (complete)
This redefined creativity really gave a wholesome feel to the very meaning of creativity itself!


5. Creativity is the variation of a theme, is about tweaking the right knobs.
Koehler & Mishra did mention that play could lead to creativity which I agree. Suddenly makes me feel creativity is a fun stuff. Must admit that the word creative has become a burden to me whenever I think of it. Why? Coz as a teacher, we are supposed to be creative in our pedagogy. 


6. The walls between arts and engineering exist only in our minds. ~Theo Jansen~

Our limits are in our mind. But very few are masters of their mind. If we could better understand how our mind works, how it's behaving, what it is doing every now and then, then we stand a far better chance of improving ourselves to greater heights.


An idea is ... highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. ~Inception, 2010~


By the way, found a uncut version of the video from google video:
Thinking Creatively: Teachers as designers Content, Technology and Pedagogy
(too bad google video could not be embedded here...) 


Back to sat's class. Got a new classmate --> Shakirah!!! Dang dang dang dang!!! Welcome welcome! (btw, those who din get to know her yet, she's very vocal! =) )


Thanks to both gurus: Yin & Sailor, which were well prepared with tons of revision for us. It was a session of learning theories revisited and TPACK revisited. Served as a great reminder to me to take these learning theories & TPACK into consideration when I devise my lesson plan. 


Yea, question of the day: Is there a reason why TPCK was renamed into TPACK?
I remember asking this question in class, got the answer, but forgotten what was the answer liao... getting old... =p Could someone out there kindly remind this old man?

Week 4: Today I learn, Today I Question

Reading the short article "Engaging the online faculty: Effective Modeling Strategies for Success" by Donaldson and Conrad (2010) before the class gave me a 'shallow' feel. I did not get the gist of the article, not until Mdm Ng elaborate on it, thus making me realized there more depth in Donaldson & Conrad's Model than I initially thought! Which there's a sudden spark of light. This is what I've been searching for! Getting students to engage in an online learning seemed a daunting task to me as I have no idea (the proper & systematic way) how to manage it. It was through Mdm Ng that I 'saw' that the model actually blend all the learning theories in different phases. Which also planted in the me the idea that we need to blend all learning theories (Behavourism, Cognitivism, Constructivism) into our T&L approach. That we should not have the idea that there are learning theories that are obsolete. (Somehow, through the different courses, with so much emphasis on constructivism, I kinda had the idea/impression that Behavourism is a dinosaur theory). But coming back to the implementation of this model, I would say I'm still quite blur about the implementation from A-Z (the light was just a sudden spark... T_T). I always find that the application of educational instruction is very abstract! If you think sciences are abstract, think again! Educational instruction is equally abstract! If not more!


However, looking back at all the learning approach and theories we had heard, talked and learned, applying anyone of them seemed a distance away. Every T&L related model/ approach sounds great, but implementing them is never easy as knowing about it. It took Yee Hui months to learn about using wikispace & finally implementing them after much planning. I think Te has been using webnode for some time. And all these does not happen just over night. Reflecting upon myself, guilty to say, I have not tried as many ICT tools as I ideally thought I would since I signed up for this course. I think the biggest obstacle to this is we need time to explore and understand the tool, thoroughly consider whether this tool could fit into our pedagogy or how should we customise to serve our T&L purpose.


EDUCATION IS VERY LONG AND SLOW PROCESS!!!!!


十年树木，百年树人。。。
(Rough translation: It takes ten years to plant a tree, but it takes hundred years to educate a person)

Did I get myself into one of the most challenging career?

Week 3: Today I learn, Today I question

I used to get this from the speaker himself:
After he finishes his presentation, he'll ask the audience:
"Any questions?".
A typical Malaysian audience usually remains silent.
After prompting for a while, the speaker will go on and say:
"If you have no question, it could only indicate two possibilities: Either you fully understood, or you totally don't understand."


I told my students the same thing. After a few attempts, I kinda figure out it wasn't working to get students engaged. And I came to my own conclusion that there's a 3rd and 4th possibility to a silent audience (in fact, there should be more than 4). Anyway, just to share my own 3rd and 4th version.


3rd: The audience are not thinking!


The current era is moving at much faster pace than before. There are tons of information knocking at our door virtually every moment. It's overloading our working memory as our could take in a limited cognitive load each moment. Guessed this is exactly what happened during our online discussion using spectrum during class. It would be a great simulation of what the current net gen are going through --> multitasking. Somehow, we humans coined the idea of creating a computer capable of multitasking to get more things done in shorter time. Computer multitasking, yes; but human multitasking, is our brain made for it? Guessed there's many research the effect of human multitasking. It would be interesting to find out what are the effects of multitasking on thinking abilities and thinking skills. Does multitasking inhibits thinking skills?




4th: Lack of questioning skills


This conclusion is through my observation on my students. Basically we could not pose question if we don't know what we know and what we don't yet know. My students know that I encourage questioning. But they often have the bad habit of lazy to think, and they'll just tell me that:
"Teacher, I don't understand." 
In which I'll often reply:
"What is it that you don't understand?"
They'll reply:
"Everything." (This is where they annoyed me)
"What is the everything that you don't understand?"


Some will get stuck from here as they don't even know what they don't understand.
Maybe it's just me. Maybe because I'm a science teacher, I expect my students to ask specific question.






Something worth mentioning before I end this blog:
Mdm Ng is supremely resourceful!
Just couldn't catch up going through the resources she gave... +_+

33. Make sure you add a short introduce yourself video clip so at least once they get to see

“Never tried it” nor occur to me to do this was the first thought that passes my mind. Really… I must admit that I’m a low profile person, or rather, a person who likes to keep a low profile of himself.

But the idea of a short video introduction of myself certainly excites me. Recalling all the events/ activities/ course/ seminar and talks that I have attended, among the very first thing almost every of these have in similar is introduction. Not only introduction of the event/activity itself, but the people, especially the speaker. Recalling some of the very enterprising talks that I’ve attend, sharing of personal stories and experience is one of the strengths that make a presentation interesting.

From my own experience, sharing of personal (or people’s) stories and experience during lessons could definite get students’ attention. The sudden sparkle in their eyes, the sudden eye contact that they eagerly gave me, wow! It’s like waving a magic wand, you know! Guess its human touch after all.

Yeah, contemplating about the benefit of sharing more personal stories and experience with my students, will try incorporating them more often as part of my lesson plan.

32. Put instructions in more than one place (especially schedules and timelines)

A significant part of how well students learn depends on how effective is the instruction. Among the factors that affect the effectiveness of the instruction are the medium of instruction and the clarity of it.

Relating my experience as a teacher in school, very often we tend to give instruction verbally. In which speeches are quite transcends to listeners, even to those active ones!
It reminds me of the documentary “What the bleep do we know?” which points out that our brain can only consciously process less than 1% of the data sent in by our sense faculties at any given moment. It is very true and real that the average listeners could only grasp a portion of the speech content. Occasionally we write it down, say, on the white board. But that is as good as in that short period of time where students are there or until the instructions are rubbed off. Technological tools such as moodle, Wikipedia, google site, spectrum etc could provide an alternative in terms of instruction medium which does not confine to space and time. However, these mediums are again as good if the learners make an effort to check them out.

It would definitely be helpful if the instructions could be placed in more than one place. And one important aspect to consider is the strategic location. In this sense, the instructors have to think very much like an advertising agent. Which reminds me of a marketing strategy used by Tesco in Korea: let the stores come to the customer!

So to me, it is not a mere action of placing instructions in more than one place, but placing at the right location that matters most.

Yet again, at the end of the day, however close we could place it to the learners’ convenient, without learners initiatives, instructions are just there to be forgotten.

30. Students shouldn’t need a computer science degree to utilize the technology to access the course

I’m of the view that teachers should not burden students’ learning of a particular subject matter (unless the subject matter is the mastering of the technological tools) with extra load in learning how to use the technology.

I think it boils down to the instruction of the teacher. If the teacher wants to incorporate technological aided lesson, then he/she must consider students’ familiarity in using the tools without jeopardizing its suitability. In any case, besides the suitability of the tools used in the context, if the tools are instructor determined, then the teacher needs to consider the user friendliness of the tool, but do consider too the technology savviness of the students in terms of social background and prior knowledge.

For myself, I’ll prefer giving students the freedom of choice in using the technology whenever possible. Unless they are required to master the skills, otherwise using which tools is not the upmost important but the learning outcome. 

8. High touch is just as important as high tech, if not more so

Touch of the heart

Some time ago, I had a discussion with my friend on teaching and learning in class. He pointed out something which struck me precisely at my blind spot on my perception on teaching and learning. Connectedness with the content matter will be severely missing if emotional factor was taken out of the content. How true this was! Given a choice between watching a movie, playing sports, chatting with friends to attending a typical lesson in classroom, majority would have went for the former three instead of latter. This is because, at the end of the day, we human beings are species with emotions and feelings. Students may not be able to intellectually comprehend the subject matter, but emotions and feelings might be able to bridge this gap! This factor was like a missing puzzle piece to the problems and challenges that we brainstormed during the class. Now, the question lies how do we incorporate emotions such as fun, touching, inspiring, exciting etc into our learning? 

It will be human factor when the students love the class, not technology. But, technology could pretty much play an important role to foster the touch of the heart. 

Week 2: Reeve's article

Thomas C Reeves's article ‘Do generational differences matter in instructional design’ was a joy to read. Reeve compiled many interesting facts regarding Boomer, Gen X, Gen Y/Net Gen, confirmed many of the notions. Among those that caught my eyes are:

"... most have been raised to think that they will be highly successful, even stars, although the reality is that they will find it harder than ever to get into and afford the best colleges, find a high-paying, personally-rewarding job, and buy a decent home..."

"...Today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach..."

Guessed this explains the very first hand experience we had with today's students in school. 

One of the things I agree very much with the author is that gaming does have its positive effects. As someone who grew up gaming, though I must admit it is highly addictive, but it does structure the way you think. And Johnson (2005) points out exactly that:

"... games force you to decide, to choose, to prioritize ... learning how to think is ultimately about learning how to make the right decision: weighing evidence, analyzing situation, consulting your long-terms goals, and then deciding."

As some games are highly intensive, I think that the thought process in gaming is so rapid that there are very few activity (especially in education), minus sports that could match this kind of intensity. Imagine the brain work-out in 2-3 hours of gaming! Although I'm for gaming, but there's always a limit to everything we do. Although it does claim to set people through the paces of analysing situation and making decision, I think gaming still could not and should not be a major substitute as a medium of education. I'll like to think of it as more of a supplement than substitute.