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.

For some student perspectives, see PCS Internships.

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.

1. Overview

To give a flavour of the World Issues: A Singapore Perspective module, let’s first look at two scenarios that students may need to discuss during class.

Scenario 1

In the workplace, we’re often asked to do things that are "out of the box". Here is a possibility.

You’re working for a financial services company. One morning, your manager summons you to assist in making sense of key developments that will affect the company. Your task is to help prepare an insight brief which the manager will present to a board meeting the next day. Your paper needs to include a summary of current and relevant developments in Singapore and in related industry sectors around the world. Your paper must make clear the most important conclusions arising from your research. What key insight will you give your manager?

Scenario 2

Race relations is a sensitive issue in most countries, particularly in culturally-diverse Singapore.

Imagine Singapore in the year 2061. China has become the undisputed world power and the resulting developments have given rise to a ripple effect in nations worldwide, including Singapore. Due to a pragmatic shift in policies to cater to this new global economic order, almost all jobs now require an ability to read, speak and write Mandarin. Increasing racism emerges in society as Singapore is perceived as a country only for the Chinese. One fateful day, the groups fighting for minority rights march in protest against alleged racist government policies and employment practices.

In a bid to control a situation rapidly spiralling out of control, the government sends in the troops. This heavy-handed response results in many non-Chinese civilian casualties. You are part of a think-tank that is trying to understand why the years of seemingly "peaceful" coexistence have been swiftly undone. Your team has chosen to look at the Southern Thailand insurgency that flared up in 2001 as there are many parallels between that incident and the current crisis that would allow you to better understand the present situation in 2061.

Both the above scenarios challenge students to have a global outlook and a sense of the problems confronting Singapore in a rapidly changing world.

As module leaders of the World Issues: A Singapore Perspective module, we have had the privilege of designing a module that challenges our students’ thinking and brings the outside world to them.

This article gives an overview of this compulsory module.

2. What is WISP all about?

Singapore’s Ministry of Education requires all schools to include National Education (NE) in the course curriculum. This subject (which is part of Social Studies and is studied through primary and secondary school) is unfortunately perceived by some to be pro-government propaganda.

The module "World Issues: A Singapore Perspective" (WISP) is Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s response to such perceptions. The module is a prescribed year 3 module for the majority of Ngee Ann Polytechnic students. The key objective of this module is to enhance students’ understanding of current global events and issues in the context of Singapore and to encourage criitcal thinking.

Instead of taking a dogmatic approach to the important issues facing Singapore, the WISP module encourages students to question, explore, defend and shape their own opinions. We believe adolescent thinking responds better to an issues-based approach and that to present a prescriptive National Education curriculum would not be approriate for their stage of thinking and development.

The intent of the module’s design is to develop thinking students who are able to make thoughtful decisions and informed choices. It allows them to acquire information by exploring themes from multiple perspectives, to make reasoned judgments, and to act upon them. Through a constructivist approach, the students have opportunities to gather information from different media and reflect critically upon events and issues both locally and globally.

In Ngee Ann Polytechnic, the WISP module plays a key role in helping produce graduates who are "global smart", ready to meet the challenges of globalisation having considered the consequences of their actions, beliefs, position and thinking.

3. Learning Approaches in WISP

WISP has redefined the teaching of National Education and changed student perceptions of the subject. The paradigm shift is summarized in the table below:

(a) Active learning and self-discovery process

The module does not force-fit National Education messages in the curriculum nor explicitly state them. Instead, such messages are embedded in the learning materials for the students to discover along the way. The manner in which they are embedded within the main themes of the module is outlined below.

i. Prejudice and Discrimination in a Globalising World

• We must uphold meritocracy and prevent corruption.
• We must preserve racial and religious harmony.

ii. Conflicts around the World: War and Peace

• We must ourselves defend Singapore.
• No one owes Singapore a living.

iii. Global Trends

• Singapore is our home; this is where we belong.
• We have confidence in our future.

Classes are conducted in small tutorial groups and delivery methods employ active, learner-centered approaches.

Following are two examples of learning through a balance of in-class and outside-class activities.

(b) Non-conventional mode of teaching

WISP tutors play the role of facilitator, guiding students in their discovery of different perspectives on world issues. The students need to formulate and articulate their personal opinions based on sound judgments of the information acquired. This requires the lecturer to not only be passionate about world issues in general but possess skills in broadening students’ perspectives, moderating discussions, nurturing students in taking a greater interest in world issues and becoming active citizens, and bringing about a change in mindset.

A variety of teaching and learning strategies are employed to facilitate greater student engagement and to maintain a high level of interest. The various strategies, approaches and media employed in the WISP module include:

• Internet-based New Media (e.g. WebQuests, online discussion forums, blogs, online surveys, YouTube, news feeds, Google Maps and Google Earth, Skype, Wikis, podcasts and newsfeeds, etc)
• Movies (dramas, documentaries, animé)
• Music (e.g. anti-war songs)
• Anecdotes, personal stories, jokes, cartoons
• News articles (online and print)
• Artefacts (including those brought by students and tutors as well as ones the students create as activities)
• Debates, discussions
• Field trips (Eg. Army Museum, Parliament, etc)
• Conferences, seminars and dialogues
• Games, quizzes
• Scenario planning

e-Learning: Various tools provided by the Mobile e-Learning platform (MeL, which uses Blackboard) are used extensively in the module to better ensure the intended learning outcomes. The tools we use include the discussion board, voice board (using Wimba), blogs, and wikis.

Teamwork: Teamwork and collaborative learning are also integral tenets of this module and are one of the desired outcomes in all the major assessments. The module is therefore designed to foster collaboration both in-class and outside the classroom.

Analysis: Aside from keeping our students abreast with current global situations and happenings, WISP challenges them to examine, analyze, think, formulate their own insights, thoughts and decisions through discussions, research, games, multi-media and tutor facilitation.

Empowerment: One of the strengths of the module is that students are given the flexibility and latitude to select information and integrate it in ways that are congruent with their interpersonal, intrapersonal and environmental experiences. The assignment questions invite students to do just that. There is no specified content to cover, only broad themes that guide students’ exploration of various concepts and issues within those themes.

A key "value-add" in the WISP module is that students are required to explore their own position and viewpoint with respect to the various issues raised. This helps learners to develop their own position as a thinking young adult.

Some of the topics students need to consider, discuss and analyse during the WISP module include:

• Studying and Working Overseas
• Cashless/careless
• Relationship-based Violence
• Foreign workers/foreign talents
• Househusbands
• Islamic Terrorism
• Old Fogies
• An Imagined Future (insights from the experiences of Russia, Thailand, USA, France, Rwanda)

(c) Assessment methods

In the WISP curriculum, students are continually assessed on their knowledge and understanding of world events and issues and their impact on Singapore in relation to the overarching themes considered. They are also assessed on their ability to apply this knowledge and understanding by articulating them either in written or oral formats. With its continuous assessment approach, both formative and summative assessments are conducted with the former having a greater weighting attached to it. The assessments are primarily designed to provide students with continuous feedback on their performance after they have completed the main components. The main modes of assessment are group presentations and individual assignments which are in keeping with the overall approach used for WISP.

5. Outcomes

Student feedback about the WISP module has been generally very positive. The following short video clip summarizes this feedback. It was screened at the first National Education sharing session organized by Ngee Ann Polytechnic on 9 Oct 2007.

Recent student feedback and comments include the following extracted from their individual self-reflection paper and responses to the Module Experience Survey (April 2008):

“Taking this module has been a fascinating look at the world from a Singaporean perspective, and I will continue learning by viewing the world from multiple perspectives.” (InfoComm Technology student)

“My perspective on things have been greatly widen because of this module.” (Accountancy student)

This module allows me to learn and realise the happenings around the world,  which is good as Singapore happens to be a small country. So it is really vital to think and see things from a wider perspective, so as not to be a frog in the well.” (Electronic and Computer Engineering student)

WISP is a very good module. It helps us to open our eyes to the surrounding and the world which we tend to ignore. And learn more in depth about the issues the world is facing.” (Facilities Management for Business student)

6. Future Developments

As global issues and trends are never static, we are motivated towards continuous improvement in content and delivery. Technology and the use of various online e-Learning tools and social media will continue to anchor many of the learning experiences. This will be complemented by off-campus learning in the form of field trips.

Greater depth of exploration & analysis and critique of issues will be achieved with the inclusion and adaptation of appropriate materials from inter-disciplinary areas such as Political Science, International Relations and Strategic Studies. WISP students will have a stimulating variety of learning experiences and resources which will not only add value to their course at NP but also to their personal lives.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank colleagues in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies for their support in the development and delivery of this module.

Authors

Article by Mark Lim Shan-Loong and Chan Keen Len (pictured left, above), lecturers in School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Introduction

Decision Support with Spreadsheets (DSS) is a 1st year module offered by the School of Business and Accountancy at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. One of the main objectives of this module is for the students to develop a working knowledge of spreadsheets for use within a business environment. Students are expected to develop spreadsheet skills that can be used for data analysis to enhance business intelligence.

The original module format

The original teaching and learning model for this module was designed around a conventional 1-hr lecture, 1-hour tutorial and a 2-hour workshop each week during the semester.

A spreadsheet chart. [Image source.]

The purpose of the large-group lectures was for the lecturer to explain Microsoft Excel concepts, while the tutorials offered opportunities for students to practice these concepts in a smaller class. In the workshops, students undertook small group problem-solving activities.

A review of student learning outcomes indicated that students felt they were learning about Excel functions as a theoretical exercise and the main purpose appeared to be learning for a test, rather than being able to apply the concepts.

The review highlighted an apparent mismatch between 50% of the curriculum time (the teacher-led, content-centered relatively large-class lecture/tutorial) and the applied knowledge that the students actually needed to develop.

Moving towards more learner-centered learning…

In reviewing how students learn, the teaching team felt that learning would be more effective if curriculum space could be created for students to handle more realistic business problems in a learner-centered manner. Opportunities had to be created to involve students in the capture, manipulation and analysis of data and in the construction of possible solutions.

Instead of asking students to do text-book assignments during tutorials, the students experience a Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach so that they are better able to apply their understanding of the topic to real world issues. Working in small teams, students now encounter real-world problems, identify the key issues, conduct reviews and information search, suggest ways to handle and resolve the problems, select the best solution/method, and present their findings for review and critique by their classmates and tutors.

Scaffolding learning – with PBL

In the course of the semester, students are given two PBL assignments which aim to develop the students’ thinking from that of a novice to a “professional”. The first assignment is designed with more guidance and scaffolding as students are still new to this method of learning. In working through the problem, students are expected to learn Excel functions, learn how to apply these functions and concepts to real-world problems, capture and manipulate the necessary data, analyse the data and posit solutions to the problem using Excel decision support features.

Students working on their PBL assignments

The second PBL assignment further develops the student’s ability to integrate classroom knowledge and real world issues as they are required to develop their own “problems” and to solve them. In order to identify real world problems, students would need to demonstrate good understanding of the concepts in the module as well as the problems arising from the use of these concepts in the workplace. Students would be challenged to synthesize their knowledge of the module, analyse the workplace environment and evaluate the various options for the most appropriate solution. This would take the students from novice to a more expert level.

Further enhancement to create more learning spaces

To further create the space for applied learning, the weekly large-group lecture of 250 students was removed. The revised model now includes a weekly 2-hr seminar and a 2-hr workshop with a class-size of 40 & 20 respectively.

The seminar sessions are used to highlight specific features of the Excel software and for students to complete in-class assignments which are more “text-book” based. A longer workshop allows the students more time to discuss and collaborate with their group on their PBL tasks. The smaller class size also meant that the tutor could spend more time with each group.

In order to ensure the validity of the assessment, the module team changed the assessment to emphasise the applied nature of the module. Theoretical assessment now covers only 25%, with the rest of the 75% being PBL assignments, class assignments and quiz.

Summary of Changes

Original Module Design Lectures were conducted where concepts were explained. Concepts are reinforced during tutorials where students practice. Workshop sessions were for students to work on small-group problem solving.

Revised Module Design The first hour of the tutorial is used by lecturers to explain concepts. The second hour is meant for students to practice.   Workshop sessions are meant for students to work on their PBL projects.

Original Module structure 1-Hour Lecture (250 students) 1-hour Seminar (40 students) 2-hour Workshop (40 students)

Revised Module Structure 2-hour Seminar (40 students) 2-hour Workshop (20 students)

Original Assessment Class & e-learning Participation (20%) Common Test & Final Test (40%) PBL Project (40%)

Revised Assessment Class Participation & assignments (20%) PBL Project (50%) Practical Test (25%) Quiz (5%)

Alignment with graduate outcomes

In this revised approach to learning how to use Excel to make informed business decisions, students develop the following repertoire of attributes, skills and knowledge:

Attributes

• Being responsible for self-directed activity
• Being confident about self-learning

Skills

• How to create, capture and manipulate data in Excel
• Data analysis
• Real-world Problem handling skills
• Critical thinking business and data-driven decision making
• Collaboration and team work

Knowledge:

• Excel decision support functions

Student Feedback on their PBL experience

Students have reported that while they find the learning experience to be meaningful and more effective than learning the concepts through the lecture mode, the module is challenging in that the problems are now larger and the workload is also heavier given that the PBL approach places a large amount of responsibility for the learning in the hands of the students. This is perhaps the most critical discomfort that students have registered about this new approach. Without the security of the ‘authorised content’ of the lecture, they feel a little lost and insecure about what they know and what they know to be ‘correct’.

Conclusion

Some students, especially since these are first year students, may find the PBL approach to Decision Support with Spreadsheets a little too challenging. They will probably need more scaffolding to develop the skills and attributes necessary for them to experience satisfaction from such a learning design. However, most students have also demonstrated that they are able to draw more meaning, relevance, and demonstrate the intended applied knowledge and skills, making this learning method more effective in achieving the learning objectives of this module.

Author

By Leong Kwok Keong, lecturer in the School of Business and Accountancy, Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

You may wish to consider some of the following approaches when planning your next engineering lesson.

You are invited to share your own favourite resources. Please use the comment box below.

Wiki-based engineering learning

The Design Decisions Wiki (DDWiki) was established by the Design Decisions Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University as a…

“…central resource for sharing information about design and tools to analyze and support decision-making”.

Weed whacker
[Image Source]

The wiki enables students to share what they have discovered and to reflect on what they are learning. It allows instructors to monitor students’ work and to provide feedback or early intervention if needed. It also allows the instructor to assess contributions of individual team members.

Example page: Weed whacker analysis, where students re-design a lawn trimmer and make conclusions about costs and power supply.

Categories: Go here for a list of all the projects organised in categories.

Hands-on Mechanics

Hands-on Mechanics contains descriptions of many 3-Dimensional, hands-on teaching aids and how they can be used by instructors in their lessons.

A parabolic mirror is a useful teaching resource [Source]

Disciplines: Mechanical, Materials and Civil Engineering

Examples: Paper Stress Concentrations, Creepy Plastic, Tower of Torque, Bending a Knife Blade like a Paper Clip, A Day at the Races – Moment of Inertia.

The following paper talks about the use of such physical models by faculty at West Point:

An Online Database and User Community for Physical Models in the Engineering Classroom by Ronald W. Welch & J. Ledlie Klosky, Journal of Advances in Engineering Education, 2007, 25 pg, pdf

NSF and the Birth of the Internet

NSF and the Birth of the Internet is an informative multimedia offering produced by the National Science Foundation about the birth of the Internet. Unlike other resources which are mostly passive, this site is interactive and comprehensive in terms of describing how the Internet and its related technologies have evolved since the 1960s.

Disciplines: Electronics & Computer Engineering, Network Systems & Security, Electrical Engineering

• According to the Institute for Research on Learning, at most, formal training only accounts for 20 percent of how people learn their jobs. Most workers learn their jobs from observing others, asking questions, trial and error, calling the help desk and other unscheduled, largely independent activities.
• According to Robert Brinkerhoff and Stephen Gill, people who do attend formal training never apply 80 to 90 percent of what they learn back on the job. They forget the bulk of what they are exposed to in a matter of days,
• Free-range learning entails workers taking part in meaningful conversations, listening to and telling stories, building personal trust networks that yield advice quickly and learning things in small chunks as needed.

What do observations such as these mean for those of us engaged with preparing our students for life, leisure, and livelihood in the 21st century? It means that non-formal, ‘free-range’ learning will become an expected competence at the workplace and we therefore need to create opportunities for students to learn to harness the power and wisdom of the online community!

We need to help students to develop and hone their skills in the following:

• initiating participation,
• establishing presence,
• gaining membership,
• building a personal network,
• establishing trust that will yield information and advice speedily, and
• piecing together, making sense of, and evaluating all of the information.

We have been encouraging our colleagues at Ngee Ann Polytechnic to consider utilising Internet Messaging and Microblogging for educational purposes.

Internet Messaging (IM)

In my travels across Asia, I observe more and more people using Microsoft’s Messenger(MSN) and other chat programs at work. The knowledge that their friends and colleagues are online comforts them as they can ask any questions and look for suggestions. Companies in emerging economies such as China, India and Vietnam do not have in-house staff-training facilities. Wherever training is available, the freshness of the content is a victim of the fast changing environment.

The fresh employee is oftentimes left to her own devices to learn her job. The internet is one of the first places she turns to. Having access to a personal computer in an office in China is a given in most cases. The companies are not so strict about what kind of programs one installs on their PCs. A lot of these companies rely on the internet for communication and market research. The employees are also encouraged to go online and search for information.

Always on, an airport employee in China online with contacts.

The new employee figures out forums where she can pose questions and blogs she can search through. She will quickly add the people she has spotted on these forums and blogs as her contacts on her IM. If she has a question, she might ask the individual IM contact.

If she does not want to disturb the user or she is not sure who to address the question to, she will make use of a trick. She will change her IM status message to show the question. This way all her IM contacts see her question next to her name on their IM windows. If they know the answer, they will reply to her. This is a non-intrusive way to getting answers that is gaining popularity in the IM environment.

IM id on business cards

It is acceptable now for people to have their IM usernames displayed on their business cards. For some time now, I have been tracking my IM communications with my friends. I find that I frequently get asked questions.

Getting answers on MSN

The image above shows a friend in Thailand asking me to recommend a camera.

If I had posted the rest of the transcript, it would have shown that most of the talk is trivial but in effect what my contacts are doing is building social capital that enables them to ask technical questions later on.

Most of this behavior is unconscious and is just a continuation of their online usage pattern from their college days. It becomes an inherent behavior and it seems natural to do so. If you look at what we do in the offline world, our behavior is not too different. We build professional contacts at a seminar or party and try to keep in touch with them.

IM as a Learning Tool

As we noted in the previous paragraph, IM tools enable the user to create a virtual knowledge network. Once you have added some contacts on your IM network, it is easy to ask questions.

Teachers can also create group chats for project groups. IM and conferencing tools such as Skype now support audio and video chat too. You could bring in an expert from abroad into your class via IM.

As an example, the Singapore Korean Meetup Group conducts some of their language lessons online via IM. IM tools also serve as a quick way of transferring files between computers in a classroom.

Microblogging

While people have been using IM tools for almost a decade, these days we are hearing more about Twitter. Twitter was launched in 2006 as a micro blogging platform. Earlier we saw how IM users use their status messages to ask questions and inform their friends what they are upto. Twitter is a platform where people can post such status messages. The posts are known as “tweets”, and they are limited to 140 characters.

Every Twitter user has a username and their tweets are displayed at http://www.twitter.com/. For example, my username is preetamrai and you can see my twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/preetamrai.

The tweets appear in reverse-chronological order.

My tweets could be

1. Mood messages or status updates, or example: “Hungry now, near Bukit Timah”.
2. Observations: “There is a new Air Asia budget flight to Bandung.”
3. Links to an interesting find on the internet: “Jacky has great collection of Chinese e-learning sites at http://bit.ly/ipnrm”
4. A question or a request for a suggestion: “A friend wants to hire a web designer in Singapore with CSS + Flash skills. Any recommendations?”

If you find my tweets insightful, you might decide to follow me. That ways you can read my updates. There is no obligation to reply to any of my messages unless you have something to say. Another reason why Twitter is attracting more members is that it is very easy to use on mobile phones.

A popular trend these days is to create a hashtag for an event or topic. Car owners in Bangkok post twitter messages on the traffic conditions and add the tag #bkktraffic. I can track this particular tag in realtime to get status updates on the traffic condition. If I come across a roadblock, I can also launch the Twitter application on my phone and post a message “Road repairs near Sukumwit soi 22 #bkktraffic”. People following this tag will all see my update and avoid that particular area.

Twitter as a learning tool

The value of a Twitter network is in the people you decide to follow. I tend to seek out people who are working in a similar area to mine and people working on interesting projects. They constantly explore new ideas and tools and keep tweeting about their observations. This way I keep myself informed of the new developments.

Twitter network as a knowledge network

Your Twitter network acts as a sounding board and you can often ask questions and get it answered. In the image above, you see Twitter user NTT – one of the people I am following – ask a question about a particular software. I was reading my messages, I knew the answer and I responded. This feature becomes even more powerful when you bring location based phones such as an iPhone to the mix. There are times when I am in a new city and I want to get some information. Most mobile Twitter clients have a “Nearby” feature that lets you see Twitter feeds of users within a specified radius from where you are. You can post your questions and chances are that one of the Twitter user nearby will provide you with the answer.

How can a lecturer use twitter?

• Get your students to follow your twitter broadcasts. These tweets can be links to references
• follow twitter feeds of a notable industry figure and
• retweet points of interest to your community
• Track keywords relating to current events. You can use the Monitter service to do this.
• Twitter about your or students projects. This might encourage further comments and conversations.

Tapping on online Communities

Tapping the potential of online communities is an e-competency that would serve students well as they move into the world of work and life. They should graduate not just knowing how to IM or tweet, but having highly developed skills to initiate participation, build trust networks, and know how to make these networks work for them. As educators, we will need therefore to be aware of the tools and their potential. More critically, we will need to know how to purposefully weave these tools into our learning activities to develop student e-competence.

At the Teaching and Learning Centre, we offer training sessions on MSN, Skype, and Twitter sessions for lecturers interested in these technologies. The sessions includes topics such as creating a Twitter account, installing MS Messenger, Skype client software, adding friends and students, conducting group chats, and ideas on how to purposefully infuse these tools into learning activities.

Author

By Preetam Rai, technology trainer at Teaching and Learning Centre, 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.

What is iMC?

The iMedia Centre (iMC) is a media production outfit within Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The centre aims to enhance the learning experience of our students using interactive media technology. iMC consists of a team of lecturers, system analysts, instructional designers, digital media designers, video producers, technical support staff, and managers.

The rationale (and dreams) behind the centre

The InfoComm Development Authority of Singapore stated in their “iN2015 Masterplan” that leveraging on technology in education will…

“…help bring about new and exciting possibilities for inspiring teachers and their motivated learners.”

The increased use of infocomm technologies in Singapore schools has led to increased demand for digital interactive media and a more learner-centred design curriculum. In this new learning environment, learners are required to solve problems, develop creative solutions, construct knowledge and enhance leadership & communication skills.

With this background in mind, Ngee Ann Polytechnic set up the iMedia Centre to provide support to faculty members who may want to utilise new technology to encourage learning.

Learner-centred learning design using Information Technology & Media

Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s direction in teaching and learning is to provide a curriculum that is “learner centred”. Learner-centred learning (LcL) design requires lecturers to craft their lesson plans with elements of:

• collaboration,
• reflection,
• exploration and
• doing

A learner-centred approach engages students and enhances the learning process.

To achieve these aims, iMedia Centre has developed several programs that support the use of information technology & media within the LcL learning environment.

1. Courseware

One of the key initiatives taken by IMedia centre is the development of interactive digital media courseware. This project is a collaborative effort between teaching faculty, iMedia Centre and Teaching & Learning Centre. The aim is to design lessons that incorporate learning via mixed media. These enhancements allow the students to learn outside the classroom while using their notebook computers.

For example, through the use of computer simulations, electrical and electronics students are able to practice their skills & understanding of the topic through a virtual lab environment as shown in the image below.

The Virtual Lab, a supplementary courseware that is used by students to measure voltage and resistance on a virtual breadboard.

The Virtual Lab allows students to prepare in advance for the actual lab experience and this enables more effective use of the limited time in the physical lab.

2. iVid – Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s own YouTube

iVid is a web-based video sharing platform for students and staff of the polytechnic. The objectives behind iVid are to encourage the use and creation of video to enhance learning, to encourage creativity and expression of ideas, and to foster open dialogue and exchange of ideas by encouraging constructive commenting.

This initiative has proven to be popular for students to share their knowledge with one another through the use of multi-media.

Why develop iVid when we already have YouTube? On YouTube it is possible for anyone to upload movies and to comment, which can be quite daunting for our students. iVid, on the other hand, only allows uploads from students and staff of Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Similarly, the only people who can comment on the movies are staff and students of the Polytechnic. Many students have reported that they prefer the security of iVid over YouTube since it provides a ‘safe space’ for collaboration and sharing.

Here is an example video from iVid, made by the students from the School of Business and Accountancy. This video was shortlisted for the International Business Media Clip Competition.

Other videos on iVid include:

• Students from the School of Nursing made videos of their Nursing Skills practicals. They not only learned the required content, but they also learned how to structure a video, and how to shoot and edit the video.
• Engineering Materials is often perceived a dry topic by engineering students. However, by making videos of the nature and composition of various materials used in construction, the students showed increased motivation to learn and to successfully complete the project.

Note: Many of the movies on iVid are restricted to staff and student use only.

3. Learning horticulture via PDAs

iMedia Centre has also been involved in the implementation of learning applications for mobile devices.

We recently developed a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) application for students from the Diploma in Horticulture and Landscape Management (HLM).

This program enables students to explore and interact with the environment by accessing content delivered through their HP iPAQs. The content changes depending on the student’s position in the park. To achieve such an outcome the PDA is triggered by the Global Positioning System (GPS).

The site chosen for this project was Clementi Woods Park (CWP), which was adopted by Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Life Sciences & Chemical Technology in partnership with NParks in December 2007.

Image shows the information available to students on their PDAs as they walk past Hotspot #1 in Clementi Woods Park.

The new learning environment

iMedia Centre has introduced a number of new initiatives that have enabled Ngee Ann Polytechnic to exploit interactive digital media technology in support of a learner-centred learning environment. As mentioned in the iN2015 Masterplan, iMC will continue to “…help bring about new and exciting possibilities for inspiring teachers and their motivated learners.”

Author

Iz Ong Sey Beng, iMedia Centre, Ngee Ann Polytechnic

]]> http://www.learnerstogether.net/imedia-centre-bringing-learning-and-technology-together/288/feed 0 http://www.learnerstogether.net/how-to-use-and-cite-creative-commons-resources/312 http://www.learnerstogether.net/how-to-use-and-cite-creative-commons-resources/312#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:05:49 +0000 Preetam http://www.learnerstogether.net/?p=312 Creative Commons is a licensing system that gives authors a way to share their works within certain guidelines. Educators can use such works for lecture materials, or websites, as long as it is properly attributed. Preetam Rai from the Teaching and Learning Centre gives us an overview of how to cite works released under Creative Commons.]]>

Internet users who upload their own images, sounds and text are increasingly using the Creative Commons license. A Creative Commons license allows a publisher to indicate how and under what conditions some one else can make use of their content. For example, I can put some pictures on my blog and display a CC license that says:

Creative Commons Attribution

What this means is that some one else visiting my site can use my pictures on their own web site or some other project as long as they properly attribute me as the creator of the work.

If I had displayed a license that said

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial,

then the visitor can only use my images on non-profit projects and he or she will have to attribute me wherever they are using my images.

Resource: Go here for a full list of Creative Commons Licenses and their descriptions.

Example of Creative Commons usage: Images

Images are probably the most important media we all use in our projects and we are constantly looking for interesting images to help us add value to our presentations, papers and lecture notes.

Flickr.com is currently the most popular image hosting site and many Flickr users license their images under Creative Commons. Let me demonstrate how we we can:

1. Search for Creative Commons licensed images on Flickr; and
2. Cite or attribute the images when we use them in our projects.

Part 1. Finding Creative Commons Licensed images on Flickr

You can only use images from those Flickr members who have decided to offer their work under a Creative Commons license. The images can be used as long as you follow the conditions that the particular license spells out.

The easiest license to use is the Attribution license. Images licensed under Attribution can be used anywhere as long as you attribute the publisher. Do note however that if the image features people, you might not want to use it out of context (for example in a commercial that is endorsing a product). Such use may require you to get a model release from the people appearing in the picture.

Resource: Go here for Flickr images under Attribution license.

You will see a search facility on the page. Let’s say I want to find a picture for an article I am writing about food in the Kagoshima area in Japan. I will search using the keywords “Kagoshima Food”.

Flickr will show you all the images matching your keyword.

Click on the picture you like. In my case, I clicked on the second image. This will take me to the page containing that image:

Note the name of the publisher. This is shown on the right hand side and reads like this:

“Uploaded on September 29, 2005 by naotakem”

Keep a record of this publisher information. Also include the title of the image. “Hirame Sashimi”

To download the image, look for a button called “All Sizes” above the image.

Click on that button and Flickr will give you a choice of image sizes. Choose a size and click on the download link just above the picture.

Also, some Flickr members use a user name. You can click on the user name and go to a page that displays the profile of the user. Here you can find the full name of the user. Note down this name too. If the user has not published his/her full name, note down the user name.

In this case, the user’s full name is Naotake Murayama

Part 2: Using the image and properly crediting (attributing) it

If you are using it on a print document attribute it in the following format:

publisher name, photo title, date uploaded via Flickr, Creative Commons License

This attribution appears just below the picture, wherever you are using it.

For example the Kagoshima food picture I downloaded will be attributed as:

Naotake Murayama, “Hirame Sashimi” September 29, 2005 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

If you are using the image on a website, it is preferable to put the link to the original image. My citation will then look like:

Naotake Murayama, “Hirame Sashimi” September 29, 2005 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution.

(via Jessica Coates, see comments below)

Other Creative Commons Media Sources

You can use this Creative Commons search facility to easily find music (from Owl), video (from Blip.tv), assorted media from SpinXpress, Flickr images and Google & Yahoo searches.

Conclusion

Educators need to respect the copyright of others. However, the Creative Commons license allows us to use images, video or audio created by others, as long as we respect the requested attribution indicated on the Creative Commons license.

Author

By Preetam Rai, technology trainer at Teaching and Learning Centre, Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

[Image at top of article: LuMaxArt Gold Guys With Creative Commons Symbol, via Wikipedia, 11Mar09]

1. Overview

Engineering Materials is an essential module for students in the Business Process and Quality Engineering diploma at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

I remembered my days as a student when I found it difficult to study this module because it was mainly descriptive and required a great deal of memorizing work.

My interest in Engineering Materials eventually grew when I worked in the navy and a local shipyard, where I needed to learn how to select the most appropriate material for an engineering application. My past experiences and difficulties in this area motivated me to try to develop a pedagogy that uses today’s technology and knowledge in brain-based teaching methods to help students enjoy learning about materials and how to apply it in the real world.

2. Developing Interest Through Technology and Learner-centred Learning

My first task was to upgrade myself in learning how to apply the various new technologies or software that could be used as part of my teaching. I challenged myself to design a series of brain-based exercises and assignments that could intrigue and sustain the students’ interests.

Additional efforts must also be made to ensure that the element of fun is part of the work assignment.

Below is a brief explanation of the key learner-centred learning-based activities that make up the innovative learning methodology of the Engineering Materials module.

Seeding a Learner-centred Learning Mindset (1st Week)

To prepare the students for learning in a “Learner Centred” classroom, I prepared a mind-map of what the students can expect to learn and the methods of learning that this module would employ.  (See Figure 1)

Figure 1 – Learner-centred Learning Methodology (Click image to see full size.)

Through the 16 weeks, I employed a variety of learning tools to help students be more active in their own learning process.

As students began to be open to the learner-centred learning mindset, I would use a variety of teaching techniques throughout the semester to help students be more active in their own learning. These techniques require students to take more ownership of the learning process as they are often asked to discover, analyse, synthesise, and to make justifications for their own conclusions. These activities all come together to help develop the students’ knowledge & skills in this module.   Examples of these learning activities are listed below.

a. Innovative Use of Magnets as an Aid for Identifying Some Metals (1st  - 16th Week)

From my past industrial experience, I explained the value of using magnets as a means of broadly identifying metals as being either ferrous or non-ferrous and also to differentiate common stainless steels from other types of stainless steels. Common stainless steels are austenitic in nature (they have high tensile strength and low carbon content) and are generally non-magnetic as compared to other types of stainless steels.  

b. Experiential Learning Journey in Engineering Materials (5th and 6th Week)

Students were taken on an experiential learning journey exercise outside their classroom during the 5th and 6th weeks. They needed to use magnets to help them uncover the identity of some commonly used metals.

When students were told that they would be going out of the Materials Laboratory to learn more about materials, they were excited. To capitalize on this high level of interest and excitement, I required each student to fill up a simple worksheet of at least three other materials that they discovered during the outdoor session. They were also encouraged to ask questions and to use magnets to help them distinguish between ferrous and non-ferrous materials as well as to detect products that use austenitic stainless steel materials. Each student was required to explore Internet sources for relevant technical information regarding the engineering material chosen. In addition, a short quiz was conducted at the end of the “Learning Journey” to gauge the students’ interests and attention in the exercise.

I observed that most of the students liked the outdoor activity as they got to see and learn more about engineering materials in-situ rather than from textbooks. From the feedback obtained, students also found it exciting to learn more about the materials they were assigned during the “Learning Journey”, as they had to go beyond the textbooks to learn more about it.

c. Presentation for Mini-project 1 (Innovative Idea) (1st to 7th Week)

To kick start the assignment, I briefly explained that since the students would be graduating as engineers, they would have to learn how to select materials when making products.

Each student needed to come up with at least three innovative ideas which could solve certain problems. They would then brainstorm within the group for the best idea and solution to the problem. The project with the most innovative idea would then be selected to enter the Tan Kah Kee Young Inventor’s Award (TKKYIA).

Every student in the group was required to present their part of the project so that everyone would have an opportunity to communicate their ideas to others.

Figure 3: Photos showing students in action with their innovations.

Students were excited that the successful completion of their mini-project provided them with the opportunity to participate in the TKKYIA. They found the project challenging and they learned more about materials than what could be taught to them in a normal class lecture.

d. Using Multi-media as a tool for learning: Mini-project 2 (Movie)  (9th to 16th Week)

Another creative way to engage students in discovery and learning is to ask them to “create” a product based on their knowledge and skills. For this project, students were first assigned to an existing product such as an aluminium can, 7.62mm round ammunition, plastic bags, coins or a porcelain bowl. Their assignment was to research it from the point of view of the materials that are used to make it as well as the manufacturing production process. The goal was to produce a short, 5-min movie clip of the production process of the product. This assignment was done in groups of 4 or 5 students.

Some of the learning movies created by the students can be viewed from the following links:

1. Manufacturing Process of Plastic Bags
2. Making of Porcelain Bowl
3. Commentary on Tempered Glass

Feedback showed that students learned more than what the basic course could teach them as they had to explore the Internet for additional relevant materials. Some groups also found time to make their own arrangements to visit actual factories or museums on their own to see and film the production process or take photos of the product in various stages of manufacture. Attached photos show some factory visits arranged by the students themselves.

Figure 4 – Joanne Chua Pui San,(in pink) interviewing the Factory Supervisor (in red) on the Manufacture of Tempered Glass. Other students in the picture are Dayna Lam Man Ning and Fu Yong Huang (in black T-shirt).

All groups concurred that although the process was long, they enjoyed doing the mini-project. They also learnt to work as a team and to some, became “more curious to discover the world of materials”.

3. Analysis and Summary of Student Feedback

The results of six survey groups conducted between August 2007 and August 2008 is summarised in Appendix 1. The initial learner-centred learning studies started off with only Groups A and B, while the surveys on Groups C to F were conducted in subsequent semesters so as to validate the design model. A total of 91 students were involved in the actual implementation and subsequent validation process of the learner-centred learning design methodology. The “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” responses are grouped together as a single data point for each group of students and are tabulated.

Sample written responses to the open-ended questions in the surveys are included (see Appendix 2) to give an overall picture of the feedback obtained.

4. Conclusion and Future Development

The successful implementation of the learner-centred learning approach to the teaching of Engineering Materials has greatly encouraged me to embark on further learner-centred learning-designed modules that would benefit students of the new age. I am definitely excited by the highly positive learning results and would like to share with colleagues how to implement this teaching methodology into the classroom environment.

For future development, I am currently conducting preliminary studies and a pilot-run on another module, “Chemical Logistics” that I am teaching with other colleagues. Preliminary indications are that the teaching and learning pedagogy as developed for the Engineering Materials module is effective in the classroom, because it is brain-based and learner-centred.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank colleagues in the School of Multidiscipline Engineering, iMedia Centre and the Teaching and Learning Centre for their support in the development of this project.

Author

Lim Choon Boo, Multidiscipline Engineering (MDE) Division, School of Engineering