Dream Rangers believe in the future

To my graduating class in Republic Poly.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Elanor Roosevelet, 1884-1962

First Landy of the USA, Writer & Diplomat

3M Super Glue & Innovation

Don't you hate it when something falls apart and you need your Super-glue, only to find that the tube you had in the drawer had dried out. What's worse...you used it only once a few months back, and it looked like there's still 80% of Super-glue left in the tube. This has happened not once, twice, by many many times!

This is the most frustrating thing on the use of Super-glue.

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday at Popular bookstore when I found 3M selling miniature tubes. They are really small; at most half the size the original tubes.

Innovative, aren't they!

I bought one, went home and started applying it to a couple my fridge magnets that fell apart. They are as stated--Single Use.

Now I wouldn't get dried out Super-glue.

I hope they sell more of these.

Weaved learning & Learning within learning

I gave my students an assignment to write about their expectations of the module (6 Sigma & Lean manufacturing) and of their facilitator last week in an attempt to apply quality concepts in quality class. I hope that they can understand the concept of "customer-focused" better through this application.

As I read their submission, I collated & analysed their work with "Wordle", a fun software. A visual representation of their collated assignment was created. This will be this week's activity for them...to critique what I did.

This week's learning will cover Voice of Customers and some basic analysis of data. I am expecting them to link their understanding of being customer focused, VOC, and data analysis with the "Wordle artwork" I deliberately planted. I am preparing another activity to link up another concept next week.

This is the concept of weaving learning together which I shared with some friends. I find it not only efficient, but extremely powerful as well. I observed that people often learn concepts in a silo mentality. They understand concept A & concept B, but if you put A & B together, they do not know how to integrate. Weaving allows people to see things in a holistic manner. Knowledge has no boundary, so should our learning. Like threads of a fabric, knowledge is only useful if woven together.

Of course, I am also trying to apply another concept I adore here--the Inception concept of "dreams within dreams". In this case...learning within learning.

1. Students learn the concepts from the content (Through content)

2. Student apply the concepts themselves (Through application)

3. Student learn from seeing how you apply the concepts (Through modelling)

4. Students learn about their learning which enables them to change their attitudes, behaviours and actions

5. Students get inspired to do all the above by themselves (Through motivation)

If we can create learning at different depths with a single situation/exercise, it would be extremely powerful. I am still figuring how to do this at the deep levels...I think I must go watch the movie Inception again to get some inspiration.

Friends, if you have ideas, please let me know.

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking, a generic skill that everyone needs!

Interesting application that analyze what I had been writing about.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2301074/Quality_Musing

Reforming Education

If you can't see the video, click here to go to the direct page.

I just watched another great video by Sir Ken Robinson. He speaks about reforming education from the industrial model to the agricultural model.

"When we look at reforming education and transforming it, it is not about cloning a system, it is about customizing it to your circumstances and personalizing education for people you are teaching. And doing that, I think is the answer to the future. Because it is not about scaling a new solution, it is about creating a movement in education which people develop their own solutions, but with external support based on their personalized curriculum. Technology, combined with extraordinary talents of teachers provide an opportunity to revolutionize education. I urge you to get involve in it because it is vital not only to ourselves but the future of our children.

We have to change from the industrial model to the agriculture model where each school can be flourishing tomorrow."

In the industrial model, students are mass produced, often linear and almost identical, in batches, and for conformity. This is the model that many of us went through. Singapore, in its early years of development adopted this model to produce thousands of engineers, accountants, technicians, etc. It successfully solved the 1970s- 1980s labor shortage problem where Singapore need massive specialized labor to work in its developing industry, particularly the manufacturing sector.

This model however is not as effective now for the industries we have are diverse. A new problem now exist: the demands for skills required are very wide-ranging and they are hard to predict! Sir Ken Robinson talks about revolutionizing and changing to the agricultural model. We cannot predict the outcome of human development, but we can create the right conditions for them to flourish. The way to do so is to customize and personalize teaching.

What he says rhymes with what we are trying to do at Republic Polytechnic (RP). We try to personalize education as much as possible.

In RP, we adopt a pedagogy called Problem-based Learning. We have broad curriculum which students have to follow. These are presented to the students in the form of problems that they have to solve. The unique feature of our system is that we allow students to explore what they deemed is important for them to solve these problems. Our teachers (we call facilitators) help the students understand the issues they have, brainstorm, formulate, develop their solutions, and eventually critique their solutions. We allow students to set their own boundaries and we help them learn in the process of doing so.

What I like about what we have here: Sometimes, they learn more than just the content, they learn about their learning process, and more importantly they learn more about themselves.

It does sound like what Sir Ken Robinson speaks about...revolutionizing education.

Maybe we shouldn't call ourselves facilitators anymore...we are the agriculturist.

Agriculturist of the homo sapiens plant

16 teachers

"You are a good teacher."

And I said, "I have a lot of good teachers as well, and I learn from them."

"And also many lousy ones. I learn a lot from them as well, I learn what not to do."

Having students coming up to you saying you are a good teacher at the end of the semester (Or facilitator as what we are called here in Republic Poly) makes you want to do more for them.

I think I should dedicate this article to inspiring teachers who influenced the way I feel about education and being an educator.

Mr Soh - I remembered my Pri 1 Maths teacher. He made us play Blackjack to teach us about addition. The objective of the game was to add to 21. All I remember about him was his name, the blackjack, and the way we learn it. (I still remember sitting on the floor of the classroom, playing blackjack, more than 20 years ago) Experiential learning we call it now...I think he is a teacher ahead of his time. I like to infuse games & activites in my lessons. I hope my students remember what we do and learn in class 20 years later.

Mrs Rama - I don't know why I remembered her so well. I think she taught me in Pri 3, and I quite like her as an English teacher. Her method of instruction was very clear. I learn that clear instructions in class are important, especially when students are feeling lost & confused.

Mrs Tan N. C - My Pri 6 form teacher, who taught Mathematics. She made me panic when she was giving out the exam papers. The tradition in my school was that they give out exam papers in descending order by marks. I was the last to receive mine, and I thought I had failed the final exam, but it turned out that I had full marks! (So much for the joke) She makes you like the subject because you like her & her personality.

徐老师 - She was my Chinese teacher in Pri 6, a retiree, who came back to teach. She must be at least 65, because her hair was all white, and she couldn't keep up with my naughty classmates. She always chase them down the aisle with a ruler, and they run around the classroom in circles. Discipline was lacking in her class. I didn't do Chinese homework for 3 months! Naturally, I did badly for Chinese that year (And from then on). I owe my handicap in Chinese to her. (I wonder how many of my classmates had the same problem). Well...It's my fault too, because I wasn't motivated enough. I learn that discipline is important in the classroom. The timer clock & the counter bell I use in class now are some of the tools I have for instilling discipline in class.

赵老师 - He was my Sec 2 Chinese teacher. We were talking about how difficult it was to solve 3 simultaneous equations. He impressed us all by solving simultaneous equations in his Chinese lessons for us. We were awed by what he knew. We later knew that he was a graduate from 南大.He made me realise that everyone has hidden talents that needs to discovered. You may find a diamond in class one day if you search hard enough.

Mr Tan - My Sec 4 Maths teacher. I remembered this clearly. "Anyone not doing their homework will be punished by plucking 1 kg of grass from the school field." We all thought nothing about it until he reminded us..."Grass is very light!" We always did our homework. He was a good teacher, who was very clear & concise in his teaching. He was also very strict.

Mrs Sim - My Sec 3 & 4 Chemistry teacher & form teacher. She promised us, "If the class gets more than 85% of As for Chemistry, I will buy everyone lunch." Our class had almost 90% of As for our O-level results, but we never had our free lunch. I don't think she remembered, but I do. So do many of my classmates. She taught me to keep promises made to students, because they always remember.

Mrs Yeo - My Sec 3 & 4 Bio teacher. She was quite a figure in the school because she was the wife of Yeo Ning Hong, a minister at that time. She was the only Biology teacher in school, and she had a special room next to the Biology lab. I like Biology because of the way she teach. Lessons were always interesting, and we were welcomed to ask questions. I think I asked the most questions in her class, and I sat in the first row in lab. She taught me that if you make lessons interesting, people will want to learn.

Mr JC Chemistry tutor - I felt that he was the smartest teacher in the whole school, because he scored 4As during his A level when he was a student. (There were less than 50 students in Singapore who had that score when he was studying A-levels) In JC1, I seldom do my Chemistry tutorial. He would always ask me if I did my tutorials. I don't remember getting a scolding from him. He was also very encouraging and patient with me and some of my other classmates who didn't do tutorials. I started doing my Chemistry tutorials half a year later. I did not disappoint him for I got an A for my Chemistry. I learn about patience & about nurturing people from him.

Economics lecturer in NUS - She was from China. I skipped countless lectures because of her. That was because, I don't understand a word she says. Her English was so bad that no one understood what she said. I learn not to be like her.

Thermodynamics lecturer in NUS - Some of us call him the Z-monster. Once he starts his lecture, you fall asleep. It doesn't matter where you sit. I tried sitting in the first 3 row in the LT, I fell asleep too. I tell myself that if I teach, I will not let that happen. I hope my students don't fall asleep in my class.

Mr Niru - My adjunct Law lecturer. He was the first lecturer to teach with a black board. He says he is old-school, and he does not know how to use OHP, so, he writes on the black board. Everyone had to squeeze into the first 10 rows of the LT for his lecture because you can't see what he writes if you sit far away. He was one of the most interesting lecturer I had during my undergrad years. He told us stories about how he sued PUB (The Government!), and won the case. He left a deep impression in me. He was the first and only lecturer to invite the whole cohort (about 250 students) to his house for dinner after the course. I have never seen a lecturer who treats students this well (Esp. if you are an undergrad). I learn from him to try to do something special for my students for every course I teach. I hope if they happen to teach one day, they will do something nice for their students too.

Dr Cxxx - I did not have a good encounter with him. He said that he used to be a management consultant in a big company, and I wanted to find out more. I dropped him an email which he never replied. Also, he respond to the girls in the class more than the guys. After comparing testimonies with many of my classmates, we had a general conclusion that he is gender bias. The examples he gave in class were often irrelevant, for example he said,"Building a dam cost 2 million dollars." But, I still learn from him; I learned about story boarding in presentation during one of his class, and I learn how not to be bias.

Dr Perry - A visiting professor from University of San Diego. He is the most helpful & dedicated professor I have met. He's knowledgeable, very approachable, and he gladly shares his experiences. He treats students as though they are friends. His cheerful & jovial personality in lectures captivates people's attention. The course was well designed, and he engage students in every way possible. Taking his module is like taking 2 modules, but none of us complained. We acknowledged that there's a lot of work, but we are really learning. He shaped much of my current thoughts about conducting classes. I told him I was teaching in RP and he shared with me how he prepares for his lectures, "I spend at least 20 hours preparing for a 2 hour lecture." Now I know why his lessons are so effective. I spend a lot more time preparing for my classes now.

Prof Ron Sanchez - Sanchez is a visiting professor as well. He flies around the whole world teaching because he is world renowned in his field. He taught us Modular Architecture. He would tell us stories about how Philips Oral Healthcare, Sony Walkman, and Volkswagen uses Modular Architecture successfully. He is a powerful story teller. The lessons we learn are through stories he tell. I am still trying to learn this skill of story telling.

Prof Vladan - Vladan shares the teaching load with Sanchez. He is also very effective in his teaching. He would give us Harvard Business Review articles to read for homework. Before he begins class discussion the following week, he would go around asking questions about the case. If you didn't do your homework, you can't answer his questions. In addition to that, someone in class has to be "on duty" to summarize the lesson and present the key ideas in the next class. He forces us to be consistent with the readings, the presentation, and group/individual assignment. He integrates continual learning into his lessons in a seamless manner. I remembered that come exam time, I didn't had to do much for revision. I learn from him that when a lesson is designed well, learning becomes easy.