The Chinese have a saying:

Reading 10,000 books cannot be compared with walking 10,000 miles.

In various ways, the Overseas Immersion Programme (OIP) is testimony to that popular belief.

The Experience

A six-week programme for the School of Film & Media Studies’ Mass Communication students took them – all for the first time – to Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. Wuhan is unfamiliar to many of our students who mostly equate China with Shanghai and Beijing.

From late August to early October 2009, the twenty 2nd-year students found themselves thrown into the deep end of the pool – not that they minded, since they were there during the blistering heat of summer, with temperatures rising to 42 degrees Celsius!

With Wuhan as the base, the students had the unique opportunity for a total learning experience that would involve the key aspects of learner-centred learning – doing, exploring, collaborating and reflecting. We designed the core module’s assignments specially to ensure a meaningful journey of discovery.

The Intent

The Overseas Immersion Programme in Wuhan was designed to:

• Provide students with the opportunity to complete a core module (Feature Writing) and two Interdisciplinary Studies modules (Chinese History & Culture and Chinese Political System) while in China;
• Develop and sharpen student insights into China’s media industry, culture, business operations and work ethic through visits to industry as well as cultural and historical sites;
• Enable students to experience for themselves cultural similarities and differences at play and sharpen their cross-cultural sensitivies and behaviour by interacting with foreign and local students as well as staff of Wuhan University; and
• Ensure that students develop a personal relationship with China, her people and her possibilities.

Magazine Project

One example of the activities undertaken by the students was a magazine project, which required the students to work in groups to plan, produce and present two magazines targeted at youths, with Wuhan as the theme.

The editors of the magazine project created a Wuhan survival guide for the first-timer in Wuhan and a travel magazine that would give insights into the key highlights of the city of 12 million people. Putting the magazine together meant the students had to explore the three districts of the city – Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang – to feel its pulse.

The students produced 2 magazines about Wuhan.

The result was two endearing magazines that not only featured the lifestyle and culture of the people but also heartrending stories of poverty and loneliness. One story featured three women entrepreneurs’ passion that was turned into a viable business. Another article looked into the pain of young girls sold to a life of selling flowers on the streets. Visitors to Wuhan are startled by that desire for survival as the girls cling to tourists’ legs begging for 5 yuan (S$1)  per flower.

Food stories abound as Wuhan cuisine is quite unlike what we find in Singapore. Re Gan Mian (literally hot, dry noodles bathed in a rich sesame paste) is the traditional favourite, as is Mian Wo, a deep-fried Chinese doughnut. These make a great, cheap breakfast. Such stories took the students along the rocky path of research, interviews and analysis – to understand the differences between Wuhan and Singapore, between the Chinese and Singaporeans.

The Interdisciplinary Studies modules were challenges in more ways than one. For most of the FMS students, Chinese is not their first language. It was a cultural shock to learn that the Chinese History & Culture lectures would be conducted in Mandarin and that all assignments had to be written in Chinese. Google’s translation tool came in truly handy! The lecturer, Professor Zhang, is such a riveting story-teller that even the most resistant to Chinese were won over by the end of the course.

The experience of Chinese culture became even more real when students found themselves in Taiji aerobics and calligraphy calisthenics. The flexing of unused muscles helped the students develop a new-found respect for China and things Chinese. A visit to Red Cliff (where the great battle between the armies of Cao Cao, Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang took place) made the John Woo movie Red Cliff even more memorable.

Meeting a local at Red Cliff.

Human propulsion on a shallow reach of the Three Gorges.

Ascending Wudang Mountain – the birthplace of Taiji and Taoism – rejuvenated the roots of a great legacy long buried.

Cultural insights from Red Cliff and Wudang

New friends were made, and ideas were shared with not only Chinese students studying English as a foreign language but also foreign students from Africa, Indonesia, Korea and Japan. Our students collaborated with their new Chinese friends on a poll to discover Chinese youths’ attitudes towards the Chinese Communist Party – an assignment for the Chinese Political System module.

We hosted the Mid-Autumn Festival (Mooncake Festival) party for our new friends, giving them a taste of Singapore chicken curry and the warmth of our hospitality. This was networking in action.

At journey’s end, it was time for reflection. An evaluation form was created and conducted to gather the lessons learnt and harness the knowledge gained for future programmes. More importantly, the value of an immersion programme such as this is in readjusting attitudes and views – and even putting to sleep certain prejudices.

It is no mean feat to complete a 15-week semester in six weeks overseas followed by two weeks’ of instruction back home. There is no doubt that the difficulty level for the two modules soared (compared to a classroom-based class) but the students rose to the challenge – perhaps inspired by their Chinese counterparts hungry for a better life or their new African friends who see the value of being part of the Chinese world.

The Outcome

Participants were profoundly affected by their Wuhan experience and learned a great deal.

Two students from the Overseas Immersion Programme share what they learned during their visit to Wuhan.

[Click each one to view. Used with permission.]

Author

By Sng-Fun Poh Yoke, lecturer in School of Film & Media Studies, Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Diploma in Psychology & Community Services (PCS) is a 3-year programme which aims to develop and transform post-secondary students into work-ready professionals with the requisite knowledge, skills and attributes for careers in social services or welfare organisations, and the drive and know-how to make a positive difference in the communities they serve.

Apart from a strong grounding in the fundamentals of psychology and how these fundamentals are applied in providing community services, the learning experience must develop the PCS graduate into someone who is not only a competent professional and a flexible lifelong learner but also one who is compassionate, resilient, innovative, resourceful, pro-active, IT-savvy, analytical, and an effective team player with good communication skills.

While it is not uncommon to hear claims of holistic development in a curriculum, what often happens is that the core academic knowledge and skills remain the explicit focus of the course and its assessment practices. The affective portion is usually left as part of the ‘hidden curriculum’ and may or may not be achieved.

However, in the Psychology & Community Services course we have attempted to integrate the core academic knowledge and skills with the desired attributes expected of its graduates. This is achieved by:

1. Having a blend of pedagogical approaches and strategies that are carefully selected to work together within the curriculum to shape and develop the cognitive, metacognitive, affective and attitudinal facets of the PCS graduate; and
2. Creating space for integrative learning.

Students visited the Help Every Lone Parent Family Service Centre as part of PCS experiential learning

Key teaching and learning approaches

The approaches used in the Psychology & Community Services Curriculum include, but are not limited to, the following:

a. Problem-based Learning

In this approach, students working in small teams, encounter and learn to work through a real, usually ill-structured and multi-faceted problem. Students develop and hone strategies to deconstruct multi-faceted, multi-layered authentic problems, seek information, construct knowledge and understanding, and suggest ways to address the problem and discuss alternatives with other teams working on the same problem. Used with the more foundational subjects such as ‘Intro to Sociology’, this approach intends to strengthen students’ grasp of the fundamentals and sharpen students’ conceptual thinking through getting students to:

• Develop the discipline to analyse and identify the possible root causes of a situation,
• Get into the habit of taking explicit stock of the quality and sufficiency of current levels of knowledge and skills before moving on to identify and seek new knowledge, skills and concepts needed to work through the issues at hand.
• Explain and justify their solution to colleagues
• Receive and consider critiques of their solution
• Learn from alternative (and often innovative) approaches and concepts used to address the same problem.

Following is an example of one of the PBL activities that students needed to complete. [Click to open.]

b. Case-based Learning

Case-based learning provides students with examples of how their class room knowledge  engages with real world situations. For example, in the module “The Brain & Behaviour”, various case studies introduce selected neuropsychological concepts. Students were exposed to a case study on a client with seizure disorder who underwent hemispherectomy (removal of half of the brain). They would subsequently examine the neurological basis of seizure disorder and the implications of hemispherectomy. 

c. Service Learning

Introduced in the more foundational modules such as "Introduction to Statistics and Research", the service learning approach pushes students to identify an issue of concern in a community or society and seek ways to apply the particular knowledge and skills learned in the particular modules in order to impact sustainable change in the community.

Students learn to work in teams to analyse and work on community issues. However, and perhaps more critically, they also learn to collaborate with their with community partners and the recipients of their services to research the issues in order to make recommendations that are of relevance and significance to the partners. Through this approach, they develop attributes of perception, sensitivity, empathy, compassion, and resilience as well as a sense of professionalism and responsibility.

Following is an example PBL report by students in their first year (the "Platinum" group, consisting of Jaslyn, Nuryanty, Sukanya and Zoe. Used with permission.)

PBL Report – Social Inequality in Singapore (by Platinum) [PDF, 7 pp, 98 kB.]

The following photo was taken while Platinum group was conducting casual interviews with some foreign workers in Little India.

Platinum Group being orientated by staff from HealthServe.

d. Reflective Learning

While reflecting on their experiences, students develop their abilities to objectively review and take stock of their own learning & development (cognitive, psychomotor and affective), the quality of their performance, and how to address their development gaps. They develop self-directed capacities to identify and direct their own further development needs.

Following is an example of one of the deliverables – a newsletter by tutorial group 1B01 – which includes reflections on how the students have applied what they learned in each of their core modules. (Used with permission.)

New Perceptions Newsletter (by 1B01) [PDF, 4 pages, 709 kB.]

e. Work-based Learning

This approach injects into the curriculum authentic opportunities to develop workplace competencies which include attitudes, behaviours, and procedural knowledge and skills needed to perform as a professional. Opportunities include using real workplace case studies and problems during class work, visits to industry, joint projects with industry, and internships. Students get second and first-hand experiential opportunities to observe empathy and innovation in action and learn through opportunities to undertake workplace tasks and get feedback on their performance. They learn to hone their conceptual and academic knowledge and skills into appropriate workplace practices.

Selecting Approaches and Strategies

When designing the PCS curriculum, we used the following key guidelines in selecting and blending the approaches and strategies:

a. Variety

Psychology & Community Services students need to experience a rich variety of activities so they develop the necessary learning skills to be comfortable learning in several environments: independently, in structured contexts, through ill-structured experiences, both face-to-face and online.

b. Range

The PCS student must be exposed to learning approaches that range from the more conventional instructor-led sessions in lectures and workshops through to the more learner-centred approaches that involve active, authentic, and experiential learning. It is this range that will scaffold the learners from the more foundational to the more experiential and self-directed aspects of learning and development.

Students experienced what it is like to use a wheelchair as part of a visit to the Spastic Children’s Association of Singapore.

Integrating the Learning

The mix of approaches in any one semester must complement each other in terms of the aspects of cognitive, metacognitive, attitudinal and affective skills, traits and attributes being developed. This blend ensures that in any one semester, a PCS student has the opportunity to integrate and apply foundational knowledge and theories into practice in authentic contexts. This also ensures that a student’s learning experience in any one semester includes a careful blend and balance of the more time- and resource-intensive, emotionally-engaging experiential approaches with the more time-efficient teacher-led approaches which culminates in an Integrated Project.

The curriculum designers created space and opportunity for students to demonstrate their efforts at integrating the various one-semester modules. For example, in the second semester of their first year, students study the following 5 modules:

• Introduction to Sociology
• Lifespan Psychology
• Introduction to Statistics & Research Methods
• Family & Relationship Studies
• Behaviour In Organisations

In the PCS diploma, students experience integration of the above modules via participation in the following:

a. Integrating theory into practice by ensuring that students encounter authentic cases and problems as they learn the theories and concepts required of the curriculum.

b. Integrating class-based learning with workplace experience through planning for well-scaffolded encounters with the workplace and industry throughout the 3-year curriculum.

d. Integrating the academic and applied knowledge and skills acquired in the different modules through a major, performance-based integrated assessment each semester. An example of this is the end-of-semester project in which students are expected to collaborate with their peers and staff to plan for, organise, execute and participate in an event which showcases their learning and development to parents and industry partners and celebrates their achievements and contributions to industry and community for the year. 

In a recent semester, the “integration celebration event” was in the form of a Symposium, which allowed students to consolidate the various learning experiences they had gone through in the semester.  Students were given the opportunity to present their research findings as well as their journey over the whole semester, in an exhibition and presentation.  In this project students incorporated their learning from classroom lectures on psychology; identification and solving of problems (Problem based learning); presentation of their project report (Project learning); learning from an authentic scenario (Experiential learning) and their service learning experiences.

Here is the brief that students needed to follow for the Symposium.

Integrated Project Example

In the “Lifespan Psychology” module, students were assigned to work with HealthServe Community Clinic whose clients are mostly foreign workers.  Using their classroom knowledge, students examined the implications of working in a foreign country on the development aspects of these foreign workers.  Students were able to present a report which identified the problems based on their research and the programmes that HealthServe develop to serve the needs of the foreign workers. In this way, students not only demonstrated their understanding of the theoretical basis of psychology but made linkages between what they have learnt in the classroom and the real world. 

Here is one of the project submissions (by the "Introvertz" group, Jessica Ann Joseph Vincent, Oh Shao Shiuan, Siti Fasihah Binte Subto, Yan Manhong and Yeo Yun Jing. Used with permission.)

Final Statistics Report – HealthServe (by Introvertz) [PDF, 23 pages, 271 kB]

Closing remarks

The Psychology & Community Services curriculum is a work-in-progress. The curriculum structure and descriptions mentioned in this article refer to the structure for the first cohort of PCS students. With each cycle of curriculum review, modules continue to be reviewed, revised, and, where necessary, re-positioned as we continue to reflect on the variety, range, blend and integration of approaches.

It has been heartening to observe how the curriculum is working to nurture the PCS graduate – one who is not only a competent professional and a flexible lifelong learner but also one who shows compassion, resilience and innovation, and is an effective team player with good communication skills.

Authors

Joyce Tang Wai Ching

Tan Yew Kong

Joyce and Yew Kong are lecturers in School of Humanities, Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Introduction

One thing a journalist has in common with a cook is the unquenchable thirst for colour.

Spice. Detail. Flavour. Call it what you will, but it’s what gives your curry that kick and your story that compelling life-like quality. And cooks and writers worth their salt spend hours slaving for the detail that separates them from mere mortals.

As a journalism lecturer, one of the qualities I like to look for in my students’ work is how much risk they take. It’s those who venture beyond the usual questions that get the edgier, the more unusual stories. And to sense that hunger in my students is a joy.

Sadly it is a rare privilege.

It seems that right before they entered poly, my Mass Communication students had been conditioned to avoid risky composition questions in the O level English composition exam.

These “risky” questions, so I hear from a colleague who used to teach Secondary 4, are often the last two of five questions that require students to discuss or argue with respect to a point of view. An example is “Money is the root of all evil. Discuss.”

Bob Chua of Sun Microsystems said at a recent talk given at Ngee Ann Polytechnic:

Learning to take a risk is an increasingly important skill that is expected of the super grad these days.

Super grads are expected to not just be tech-savvy, but have high EQ, have the ability to deal with ambiguity and be entrepreneurial. It is only so that they can be the idea generators for the workplace of the new millennium.

The trouble with news-writing is that engaging news stories can only be achieved if a writer adopts a ground-up approach rather than the top-down approach.

The top-down approach is to quote extensively from an official press release – which is very safe and controllable – while the other approach is to quote extensively from people who are affected by an action announced in the press release.

This is trickier because you are not sure what people are going to say and you need to work the ground more thoroughly to get a good feel. Obviously the top-down approach is the least risky.

Risk: Finding Interviewees

For an assignment in our news-writing class in the Diploma of Mass Communication within the School of Film and Media Studies, I asked all 172 students to cover one event among a list of 10 for Arts on the Move, the fringe programme of the 2008 Singapore Arts Festival.

Their task was to attend more than one event, choose what they find interesting, research the event and the performers, attend the event and describe the audience reaction to the event. They had to figure out the angle they wanted, who to talk to and what colour to put into a specific inverted-pyramid structure.

[The inverted-pyramid is a format used by journalists traditionally to write about breaking news in a concise and succinct manner, with the facts in a logical sequence. Typically, the pyramid starts with a news point, followed by a paragraph stating the context, background and quotes.]

Risk: Stories Outside of the Students’ Norm

Despite a range of performances covering a capella singing and a dusk-to-dawn Hindu epic, the events the students chose were “safe”. They were either a feisty flamenco dance, an experimental dance, an Indonesian drum performance, or an interactive performance featuring three overdressed tai-tais and surprised MRT commuters.

Students came back tending to complain about reluctant interviewees, or having to brave crowds of competing reporters from the class. They also complained they had to think very fast on their feet and be prepared with research or see their interviewees walk away impatiently.

One of the more successful news stories was by Samanthan Chui, who covered a rather sombre and experimental dance performance portraying a rebellious relationship between a teenage girl and her parents in Clarke Quay. It was a difficult story as few spectators connected with the show generally. But with the right interviewees, she brought an emotional centre to her story.

She wrote of the performance by Frontier Danceland, “The heart of Clarke Quay took a sombre note as diners and partygoers took a step slower and walked through a story of an unshakeable tie – family love.”

She interviewed a teenage girl and two mothers, one of whom said, “The message was loud and clear even though no words were spoken … it reminded me of my own daughters who are always fighting despite their unspoken love.”

The authentic news-gathering approach was not always smooth-sailing. As a lecturer, I had to manage the risks involved.

Risk: Acceptance by Community

For starters, the organiser complained that some students interviewed tourists during a performance in an MRT train, which was deemed disruptive to the performers. I was asked to “vet” all questions to be posed by the students.

I used the organiser’s critical email as a teaching tool to remind students that the media industry is looking at them with the same standards as it would regard any rookie, and how they want to be perceived is up to how they conduct themselves in interviews.

The complaints stopped.

In another instance, a few students called from Toa Payoh’s HDB Hub in a panic as a few security guards asked them to leave the area. I instructed my students to stay polite always and ask politely why they had to leave and to note the names of the guards. In the meantime, I rushed down to HDB Hub so I could respond to whoever was accosting them. The security guards never bothered them again.

It was an early lesson on how students tend to stand accused of ineptitude until proven otherwise. It also taught me that if I cared about what and how they wrote, I needed to engage the community to help the student transition between academic and professional requirements, especially if they were enterprising (read: innovative) in getting interviews.

In a later assignment students were tasked to source for the own news stories and present them in an eight-page community newspaper devoted to youths.

Risk: Expectations and Responsibilities

A student, Jason Lee, managed to get a five-minute interview with the Minister of Community, Youth and Sports at an emergency preparedness exercise in a Northwest district event. Unfortunately, he did not make clear if it would be published and the press secretary had to ask for help in locating the student for clarification. The enquiry email was routed to me.

I located the student and said he needed to be clear in his communication with any interviewee, including whether it would be published and when. I added that if he were a freelance reporter on the scene, he might have to depend on word-of-mouth to get jobs. His reputation mattered. On the phone, Jason’s voice suddenly seemed to have a more affirmative ring as he uttered “Yes, ma’am.”

Happily, not all interviewees were as openly skeptical of students. The public relations firm in charge of SINGFest was an exception to the norm.

Student Nur Aqilah was thrilled to get an email response from SINGFest publicist Debbie Loo. She had feared that she would be ignored as a student reporter because of the prior experience with the Arts Festival.

“But it turned out that the PR person was a very nice lady and she answered my questions willingly,” said Aqilah. “I feel that going out there and really experiencing what journalists or reporters do can teach us some life values. Basically, if you never try, then you will never know the outcome.”

It is an attitude the most resilient writing students will adopt.

Outcomes

Example Student Article: Chui Yong Cheng reports on one of the dramas performed during the arts festival:

One Table Three Chairs strikes a chord [MS Word document, .docx format]
(Includes a personal reflection on her experience of this authentic assessment task.)

Another student, Joshua Tan, shared in his reflections that he learned how to approach interviewees and to be subtle in guiding the interview in the desired direction. He added:

Finally, I learned that it is important to be able to think on one’s feet to alter a question as and when is required. This is essential as different people perceive things differently, and will give different answers if prompted in different ways. This also aids a reporter in getting different points of view from the various interviewees.

Andrew, another participant in the news-writing class, said after the experience of going out to interview audience members:

I have learned to understand people much better. Also, I have started to learn to ask the question ‘WHY’ more often. It is true that students do not ask this question often, but it is very important as this is a follow-up question and this type of questions are the ones to lead you to a good quote.

Conclusion

Forget the A-graders who toe the line like the O-level exams expected them to. They will forever be the ones waiting for pat answers. I tell my students never to look at me for answers. It’s the risk-takers with the right details that score.

It is by making students venture beyond their comfort zone that we can create an intensive stretch for their ability to engage their environment and benefit from their learning.

Author

By Koh Joh Ting, lecturer in the School of Film and Media Studies, Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

We first introduced Second Life to Ngee Ann Polytechnic in 2007.

At first, students were given simple tasks so that they could learn how to build items in the virtual space. They needed to go to common areas (called sandboxes) to carry out their activities but a problem we faced was the sandbox would get cleared from time to time and the students’ work would be lost. We subsequently bought our own island with the aim of providing an opportunity for staff and students to investigate the potential of 3-D virtual spaces for learning.

The first activities in Second Life were undertaken by students from the Building and Mechanical Engineering diplomas. The objective was for them to learn how to communicate, collaborate and construct buildings and other objects in a virtual space.

1. Activity by Aerospace Technology Students

The Aerospace Technology students created models of aircraft and hangars as illustrated below.

As the facilitator for this activity, it was an interesting experience for me as it was the first time I needed to meet students in a virtual space to help them with their tasks. In this image, I am discussing the requirements for the activity with the students.

As virtual worlds become more commonplace, I think “in-world” facilitation skills will become more important in the educational context. As companies will make more use of virtual worlds to meet with clients and to hold in-company meetings, our students need to be prepared by having experiences in such spaces.

Self-Directed Learning

The students were required to research how to build objects in Second Life, since no formal training was provided. I also encouraged them to look for help online both “in-world” where they would hop on to other islands and consult builders and on YouTube which has hundreds of videos on building and scripting on Second Life.

For example, in this video an avatar is seen using a set of architectural plans to create a building in Second Life.

2. Second Life Activity by Real Estate Business Students

Our second project was with Mr. Keow Yeong Ming and his 3rd-year Real Estate Business students, who were enrolled in the Business Information Technology module. We could only work with 3rd-year students as Second Life does not allow people younger than 18 on the main islands. (There is a separate section in Second Life for those younger than 18).

The objective for this activity were to expose the students to the experience of collaborating in an online space to design and create a building of their own choosing.

The students were divided into about a dozen teams of three each.

The first task the students needed to complete was to create their avatar and then visit certain islands to learn more about what Second Life has to offer.

The students needed to build something of their own choice in Second Life. It could have been an apartment block, a bungalow, or perhaps a restaurant or shopping centre. They needed to build it from scratch or they could explore Second Life to find components that they could use (like staircases, furniture, cars, and even helicopters). The students had access to a building fund of 1000 Linden dollars per team. (Linden dollars is the virtual currency that is used in Second Life. It can be exchanged for real currency.)

The students were given broad guidelines to encourage creativity. One of the choices that the students had was to build their “dream home”.

We were quite impressed by what the students were able to build in such a short period of time.

Assessment in Second Life Projects
The assessment for this project was quite interesting. The lecturer visited each group’s Second Life site at a pre-determined time and the students were required to be there to show him around. He asked them questions on what they had done, why they did it the way they did and what had they learned. The aesthetics of the construction and the use of space were also considered as part of the assessment.

Student Feedback
We surveyed the students after this experience. Most of the students were positive about the experience in Second Life, while around 15% were ‘neutral’ and only a small number did not believe it was a useful experience. They reported that Second Life was “fun and easy to use” and that they “were now more comfortable to communicate with people in Second Life”.

One student reflected on how it had changed his view about the module:

It’s fun and an innovative way to make our module more interesting.

Several students indicated their disappointment with the “lagginess” of Second Life, presumably because of wireless bandwidth issues:

I feel that it is a rather fun and unique way by using Second Life in doing part of our assignments. It is like students can have fun learning and playing at the same time. However, it can take up a lot of time too as i get logged out rather often and slows down everything. Can’t really multi-task using my laptop.

Another reported on student engagement:

I feel that it is a good way to engage students to have a feel of how to build digitally. Even though it was lagging, the project interested me and I enjoyed doing it.

When asked about the future potential of Second Life, we were encouraged when one student responded:

Perhaps there should be a project whereby students are required to hold meetings with their individual groups in Second Life.

Unexpected Lessons Learned

The lecturer in charge of this project reported that after allowing the students to build whatever they liked, wherever they liked, the virtual “town” became very messy. For future runs, there will be more town planning on the island. This was also a good learning point for the real estate students who were involved.

Future Directions for 3-D Worlds at Ngee Ann Polytechnic

1. Next semester we will get a larger group of students to participate in a more involved exercise where the Second Life activity will be more focused on the learning objectives of the students’ core subjects.
2. We are now using a virtual 3D environment originally developed by Sun Microsystems. In this 3D world, employees can “accomplish their real work, share documents, and meet with colleagues using natural voice communication.” In the educational arena, students can use MPK20 to share computer applications with each other and with their lecturers; collaborate on projects; and communicate with each other in the 3-D space. See Using a Virtual World to Teach Stock-Taking Concepts and Techniques

and

What are the factors that determine the value of a house? The typical answer is “Location! Location! Location!” How about the factors that influence the value of teaching? My response is an emphatic “Connection! Connection! Connection!”

Important connections in teaching and learning

Let’s consider some of the connections that influence learning the most.

1. Connections Between Students and Teachers

Surveys of students consistently show that having a bond with their lecturers is one of the most important aspects of their learning success.

A good teacher teaches the students. A better teacher connects with the students, with the hope of influencing behaviours and inspiring souls.

In my seven years of teaching in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, I have learnt that this profession involves both heart work and hard work.

We cannot fake sincerity. In our daily encounters with students, our words, our silence, our actions or our body language – each has the power to make or break a student’s day, a student’s desire to learn, a student’s potential or a student’s esteem.

To create a non-threatening learning environment, we need to establish good rapport and a strong relationship with students. We know that we have connected with our students when we receive phone calls, visits or wedding invitations after they graduate.

The author connecting during a previous students’ 21st birthday party

The author connecting with students at their graduation

Surveys of students consistently show that having a bond with their lecturers is one of the most important aspects of their learning success.

2. Connections Between Students

The social aspect of learning is very important for today’s students. I enhance the connections between students through the learning design that I employ in my classes.

Learner-centred presentation of tutorial – by a student

Groupwork in tutorials: The students are required to meet together in small groups to discuss the tutorial questions before class. Then, for the first 10 to 15 minutes of each tutorial, I give the students a chance to clarify their thoughts on the questions before discussing the topic as a whole group.

Engaged and connected students

I give the students a chance to clarify their thoughts on the questions before discussing the topic as a whole group.

e-Learning: During our e-learning weeks, the students experience the discussion forum (asynchronous) beginning from their first year of studies. The forum gives them time to think through the pre-assigned questions. Other students give their inputs and the tutor facilitates the discussion but does not tell them if they are right or not until end of week. In the Economics module, an example topic that has been discussed in this mode is monopolistic competition.

We begin to use synchronous discussion (chat) for students in years 2 and 3, since by then they are more familiar with our Learning Management System interface (we use Blackboard) and they are more confident to discuss the issues online.

Discover and share: Groups are formed and they are each assigned an economics topic that will be discussed in class sometime in the near future. The students need to discuss the topic and decide what evidence they will gather and how best to present that evidence. They then need to take photos or videos (or other media) of relevant objects that help to explain the concept. The objects may be signboards, news articles or perhaps they may interview people on the street, or they may gather coffee shop talk on some economic issue of the day.

News Item Pair Assignment: In pairs, the students need to select a news article on some economics issue and then they need to analyse it using the economic concepts they have learned. The assessment for this task will prepare them for an examination question involving case-based scenarios where they need to apply concepts.

3. Connections Between Students and the “Real World”

I have the privilege of teaching economics, a social science discipline that encompasses many connections and linkages to the real world. Apart from the “discover and share” and “news item pair assignment” examples given above, two other examples come to mind.

Real-world examples make it easier for students to understand concepts.

When discussing the oligopoly market structure, we teach the concept of “Game theory”, which helps to explain the decision-making process between different oligopolistic companies. To illustrate this concept, I took photos of petrol price display boards at several petrol stations. I used the apparent exact price of petrol charged by the petrol stations to illustrate obvious yet subtle business practices and firms’ behaviour. The frequent nodding of heads (to signal familiarity) and the many sparkles in the students’ eyes illustrated how real-world examples make it easier for students to understand concepts.

Second, in teaching the law of diminishing marginal returns concept as part of production theory to our first-year students, I got my students to conduct a role-play in class. Their job was to explain the concept to our canteen operators. It went something like the following script.

Role-play: Enabling students to understand the meaning of Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns (LDMR)

They learnt to use simple language to break down a seemingly difficult technical concept.

In the process of experiencing this role play, the students had much fun (and laughter), they learnt to use simple language to break down a seemingly difficult technical concept and most importantly, appreciated the relevance and realism of the concept. In connecting students to reality, I learnt that establishing relevance is the key in creating incentives to learn. Good and relevant real-world examples could both excite and incite learning.

Enhancing Connections Using Technology

Our students are digital natives. They have been surrounded by computers, mobile phones and the World Wide Web all their lives. As such, most of what we call “technology” is not technology to our students − it is just a tool they use to get a job done.

Most educators have a hard time playing technology catch-up.

Most educators have a hard time playing technology catch-up as we were brought up in a different environment. However, with a little boldness and endeavour, I have learnt that we can close the digital gap between the students and ourselves. We can complement the use of the physical classroom with the virtual classroom. The content remains the same while the variety of communication media has increased.

I have found that the use of chats, discussion forums, SMS, web-pages, YouTube and Wikipedia have helped to bring me closer to the learners.

For example, I use a short video clip from YouTube showing an “English Premier League match highlights” to introduce and excite students on the topic of monopoly. (Starhub won exclusive rights for the television broadcast of the Premier League.)

In the topic of Keynesian economics, we get our students to use online resources to find out more about the causes of the Great Depression and the role of government in the aftermath.

If we as instructors stay in touch with technology, it can help us to stay more closely connected with our learners. Harnessing the relevant technologies helps to establish more common ground between instructors and learners as it creates alternative learning platforms.

Conclusion

To summarise, I believe that:

• Teaching is more about making connections than giving information;
• The connections that we need to foster are those between students and tutors, amongst students themselves, and between students and the ‘real-world’;
• We should use technology to enhance these connections, and not use technology for its own sake;
• Since the students say that relationships are very important when it comes to teaching and learning, we should take the connections issue seriously!

“Learning is a process of connecting. [The] ability to perceive and nurture connections between ideas and concepts is a crucial skill.” − George Siemens

Author

Matthew Pon, School of Business and Accountancy