Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Blog project, and Conclusion of study
Towards the end of semester , students were kept very busy completing their blog project and preparing for their oral presentation in the last week. Each group had a few consultations with me over their presentation and they conscientiously attended to my comments and suggestions for improving their powerpoint presentation. We had a session on the do's and don'ts of powerpoint presentation, and went through some pointers on delivery.
The presentation went well generally. All the students took it quite seriously , although there was a hitch with one pair of students. They realised their mistake in the way they approached the blog project rather late and so had to re-do their blog substantially at the last minute. Their topic was "The Best Education Systems in the World", but instead of relying on secondary sources of information, they just decided on their own native "intuition" which countries had the best education systems , and of course their choices were not informed ones. I had pointed out to them in an earlier consultation that I didn't believe their choice of China was appropriate, and had urged them to do some research on it, but they didn't seem to take me seriously till quite late, when I saw their draft powerpoint and questioned them about their criteria for their choice.
Throughout the project I had reminded the class the importance of making informed choices based on well-considered criteria, which they would have to arrive at after reading up on the topic. I gave my class topics that were different from what is suggested in the course file. I chose topics that I felt would give students an authentic need to do some research on, and which they could personally learn something from. The group that worked on "Inspiring Women" said they learnt a lot from researching on the women they selected, and that they had personally felt inspired by what they learnt. The other group chose to work on " The Best Cities to live in", and they clearly stated their criteria for their choice of cities.
Prior to the presentation, there was face to face consultation as well as consultation via email. They would send me their draft powerpoint slides for my comments. The email was indeed a very useful way of negotiating the challenges of time and place.
The blog reports were also conscientiously attended to by the students.
Although the summary quiz was over, I still attended to improving their reading .Since I felt that one of the problems was that they tended to read very generally ,without getting into deeper engagement with the sense and hence become quite careless in their interpretation , I had them work as a group on a jigsaw reading activity. Each student was given a portion of a sentence to remember, and together they had to work out the the entire sentence just by listening to one another's portion and positioning themselves in the sequence that their portions should appear in the sentence. What showed up was a careless understanding of the portion that was memorised, but the activity forced students to engage more deeply with the meaning of the text. I think it did bring home to them the importance of paying close attention to the meaning of what they read instead of just skimming with a very superficial understanding.
Before the final examination, all the SKPD students were given a past year exam paper to practise on. It was a very easy paper, which was probably a good thing - to give students confidence in doing the final paper well.
The last class ended with a few photographs taken of me with the class.
After the final examination, I was still on the email with the students, and I sent out a final evaluation survey. However, I received only 6 responses. All the responses were very positive, and I believe they were sincere.
I still keep in touch with my students via email because they had told me they still wanted to receive email from me, especially jokes and articles on current issues.
I have enjoyed teaching this class very much. Getting involved in this project has been a boon because it nudged me to pay closer attention to how my students were responding to my methods, and how they were learning. It allowed me to focus on encouraging independent learning. However,I would say that one semester is insufficient - and that's what my students said too .
The presentation went well generally. All the students took it quite seriously , although there was a hitch with one pair of students. They realised their mistake in the way they approached the blog project rather late and so had to re-do their blog substantially at the last minute. Their topic was "The Best Education Systems in the World", but instead of relying on secondary sources of information, they just decided on their own native "intuition" which countries had the best education systems , and of course their choices were not informed ones. I had pointed out to them in an earlier consultation that I didn't believe their choice of China was appropriate, and had urged them to do some research on it, but they didn't seem to take me seriously till quite late, when I saw their draft powerpoint and questioned them about their criteria for their choice.
Throughout the project I had reminded the class the importance of making informed choices based on well-considered criteria, which they would have to arrive at after reading up on the topic. I gave my class topics that were different from what is suggested in the course file. I chose topics that I felt would give students an authentic need to do some research on, and which they could personally learn something from. The group that worked on "Inspiring Women" said they learnt a lot from researching on the women they selected, and that they had personally felt inspired by what they learnt. The other group chose to work on " The Best Cities to live in", and they clearly stated their criteria for their choice of cities.
Prior to the presentation, there was face to face consultation as well as consultation via email. They would send me their draft powerpoint slides for my comments. The email was indeed a very useful way of negotiating the challenges of time and place.
The blog reports were also conscientiously attended to by the students.
Although the summary quiz was over, I still attended to improving their reading .Since I felt that one of the problems was that they tended to read very generally ,without getting into deeper engagement with the sense and hence become quite careless in their interpretation , I had them work as a group on a jigsaw reading activity. Each student was given a portion of a sentence to remember, and together they had to work out the the entire sentence just by listening to one another's portion and positioning themselves in the sequence that their portions should appear in the sentence. What showed up was a careless understanding of the portion that was memorised, but the activity forced students to engage more deeply with the meaning of the text. I think it did bring home to them the importance of paying close attention to the meaning of what they read instead of just skimming with a very superficial understanding.
Before the final examination, all the SKPD students were given a past year exam paper to practise on. It was a very easy paper, which was probably a good thing - to give students confidence in doing the final paper well.
The last class ended with a few photographs taken of me with the class.
After the final examination, I was still on the email with the students, and I sent out a final evaluation survey. However, I received only 6 responses. All the responses were very positive, and I believe they were sincere.
I still keep in touch with my students via email because they had told me they still wanted to receive email from me, especially jokes and articles on current issues.
I have enjoyed teaching this class very much. Getting involved in this project has been a boon because it nudged me to pay closer attention to how my students were responding to my methods, and how they were learning. It allowed me to focus on encouraging independent learning. However,I would say that one semester is insufficient - and that's what my students said too .
Monday, September 13, 2010
Semester break assignments
Sem break coincides with the hari raya celebrations but students went off a week earlier, claiming difficulty in getting travel tickets home.
I assigned them some practice exercises on writing summaries, and told them they were to read a few articles online and tell the class what they read when they return. The summary quiz has been scheduled for the week that they return from the break. I'm not happy with that because the students have barely had enough time to really improve. Although they have learnt summary writing before for the MUET, they still need more guidance and practice.
Amyliana is the only one who won't be able to go online because her kampung is too remote to have internet access. She struggles with her work but tries hard. Another student has complained that hostel activities are too demanding but ahe has no choice but to comply because lack of participation would certainly mean no place in the hostel the next semester. Poor students - they are such an oppressed lot!
I assigned them some practice exercises on writing summaries, and told them they were to read a few articles online and tell the class what they read when they return. The summary quiz has been scheduled for the week that they return from the break. I'm not happy with that because the students have barely had enough time to really improve. Although they have learnt summary writing before for the MUET, they still need more guidance and practice.
Amyliana is the only one who won't be able to go online because her kampung is too remote to have internet access. She struggles with her work but tries hard. Another student has complained that hostel activities are too demanding but ahe has no choice but to comply because lack of participation would certainly mean no place in the hostel the next semester. Poor students - they are such an oppressed lot!
Students responses in their reflective logs
The students responded pretty promptly . However, despite an exercise done in class to demonstrate what reflecting really involves, students tend toi just answer my questions which were meant merely to trigger of their reflections. In the class exercise, I'd got the class to talk about their experience so far of university life. It started off with the usual positivist remarks, then as one student talked about an unpleasant experience he had with the counter clerks, others joined in with their own accounts of how the administration seemed to have these little napoleons everywhere. They were however very appreciative of their learning experience, and said thay liked being treated as independent adults by lecturers.
As for the feedback on innovations in the SKPD class so far, the general impression is positive. Although I didn't ask them to rank the innovations in any order, they seem to find getting emails from me very enjoyable because they say that it makes them feel that they're getting special attention, and that they enjoyed reading the jokes and articles that I send them - to expand their horizon.
I haven't done a close analysis yet, but all but one also seem to like the self-marking that I get them to do .
They like finding and sharing quotations, getting opportunities to talk in front of the class.
Siva is the only one who said he prefers a bigger class because he likes having more classmates who stimulate and challenge him.The rest like a small class for the attention it affords.
Another favourite innovation is the use of the computer and LCD in class, especially for viewing short films. I have shown 2 of the 15Malaysian film so far ( produced by Pete Teo) : House and The Future, and they enjoy mulling over the deeper meanings of the films.
As for the feedback on innovations in the SKPD class so far, the general impression is positive. Although I didn't ask them to rank the innovations in any order, they seem to find getting emails from me very enjoyable because they say that it makes them feel that they're getting special attention, and that they enjoyed reading the jokes and articles that I send them - to expand their horizon.
I haven't done a close analysis yet, but all but one also seem to like the self-marking that I get them to do .
They like finding and sharing quotations, getting opportunities to talk in front of the class.
Siva is the only one who said he prefers a bigger class because he likes having more classmates who stimulate and challenge him.The rest like a small class for the attention it affords.
Another favourite innovation is the use of the computer and LCD in class, especially for viewing short films. I have shown 2 of the 15Malaysian film so far ( produced by Pete Teo) : House and The Future, and they enjoy mulling over the deeper meanings of the films.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Students' reflective log, 27 August 2010 (end of week 7)
This is the reflective log I sent out to my 8 students in Set 6. I told them about it in the last class we had.
REFLECTIVE LOG
Dear students,
Please spend some time and effort in writing this reflective log as it will be useful feedback on the approaches that I have used in teaching the course this semester.
To help you to remember what we have been doing so far in class, and to guide you in your reflection, I have listed some questions , but please do not limit yourself to merely answering the questions. Feel free to express your opinions, be honest, be critical . Any suggestions on what would help you to learn better would also be appreciated.
If you feel that you’d be more accurate in expressing yourself in Bahasa Malaysia, go ahead and write in BM, or use a mixture of BM and English. But no other language, please.
Please complete this log and email it back to me before you go away for the Hari Raya break .
Thank you.
Pn Lee aka Mrs B.
Reminder: the questions here are just to help jolt your memory. Don’t confine yourself to answering them. And don’t say things just to be nice to me. This will NOT affect your grade, nor my job in any way!
Type in your response after each question. No word limit.
1. Compare your previous experience of learning English to your current experience of the SKPD1033 course.
2. Are you happy about being in a small class? About being part of a research project? Elaborate.
Comment on these activities that have been carried out in the class for the past 7 weeks. For each activity, say if you like or dislike it, if it has helped you in any way, if it is meaningless to you, etc
3. Discovering your learning style : has it helped you to know your learning style?
4. Collecting quotations related to the topics covered, and sharing them with the class.
5. Viewing short films ( only one so far – “House” , but will show a couple more)
6. Having the computer and LCD in class – accessing internet resources, doing trivia quizzes, etc
7. Receiving email from the lecturer – what you would prefer to receive
8. Presenting your blogs ( introduction) in class
9. Working on the units on your own
10. Self-marking of exercises
These are a few things that you were advised to do on your own. Say if you’ve actually started , or if you have no intention of starting. Comment on your experience if you’ve started.
11. Using online resources. Which websites/blogs? What kind of resources : for grammar, listening, reading, etc? Useful?
12. Vocabulary notebook
13. Quotations notebook
14. Reflect on your experience of learning English this semester . Are you more interested or do you still find it a chore ? Elaborate.
15. Any suggestions for improving your learning experience? Would you like to have English classes continued every semester? Elaborate.
REFLECTIVE LOG
Dear students,
Please spend some time and effort in writing this reflective log as it will be useful feedback on the approaches that I have used in teaching the course this semester.
To help you to remember what we have been doing so far in class, and to guide you in your reflection, I have listed some questions , but please do not limit yourself to merely answering the questions. Feel free to express your opinions, be honest, be critical . Any suggestions on what would help you to learn better would also be appreciated.
If you feel that you’d be more accurate in expressing yourself in Bahasa Malaysia, go ahead and write in BM, or use a mixture of BM and English. But no other language, please.
Please complete this log and email it back to me before you go away for the Hari Raya break .
Thank you.
Pn Lee aka Mrs B.
Reminder: the questions here are just to help jolt your memory. Don’t confine yourself to answering them. And don’t say things just to be nice to me. This will NOT affect your grade, nor my job in any way!
Type in your response after each question. No word limit.
1. Compare your previous experience of learning English to your current experience of the SKPD1033 course.
2. Are you happy about being in a small class? About being part of a research project? Elaborate.
Comment on these activities that have been carried out in the class for the past 7 weeks. For each activity, say if you like or dislike it, if it has helped you in any way, if it is meaningless to you, etc
3. Discovering your learning style : has it helped you to know your learning style?
4. Collecting quotations related to the topics covered, and sharing them with the class.
5. Viewing short films ( only one so far – “House” , but will show a couple more)
6. Having the computer and LCD in class – accessing internet resources, doing trivia quizzes, etc
7. Receiving email from the lecturer – what you would prefer to receive
8. Presenting your blogs ( introduction) in class
9. Working on the units on your own
10. Self-marking of exercises
These are a few things that you were advised to do on your own. Say if you’ve actually started , or if you have no intention of starting. Comment on your experience if you’ve started.
11. Using online resources. Which websites/blogs? What kind of resources : for grammar, listening, reading, etc? Useful?
12. Vocabulary notebook
13. Quotations notebook
14. Reflect on your experience of learning English this semester . Are you more interested or do you still find it a chore ? Elaborate.
15. Any suggestions for improving your learning experience? Would you like to have English classes continued every semester? Elaborate.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Things about student life on campus I never knew
At the practice session on writing a reflective log ( My experience as an undergraduate so far), I discovered the following things:
1. Students' hostels charge different rates , and students have no choice of hostels. One hostel may cost a student about RM2 per day , and another can be as much as RM4. Apparently, when a student enquired about the different rates, she was asked by the clerk "boleh bayar tak?", and when she replied "boleh", she was told " bayar aje la!".
There is apparently no noticeable difference in the facilities provided by the different hostels, so what is the basis for differential rates?
2. Students say they are often treated badly by counter personnel. They are spoken to rudely, get scolded and the service is generally very inefficient. Liana shared her experience of asking for a simple letter to cetify that she wasn't on scholarship, so that she could show it to the Sarawak state authorities to ask for financial support. it took her a few trips over 3 weeks, and when the letter was finally prepared, there was an error and so she has to wait yet another week. Jason reported on an incident of asking the technician to attend to the non-functioning of the washing machine, and was told to file a report. he believes that all that was needed was for the technician to switch on the machine, but Jason couldnt do it himself because the main switch was in a locked enclosure.
3. Students have to pay RM50 per semster for internet access via Jaring. They're allowed 10GB, but Vincent reports that his 10GB has mysteriously been used up, and he has to pay to reload!
Now that I realise students are paying for access, I can't get students to log in for me when I use the internet in class anymore.
4. Students say they don't know who to turn to when they need help or support. They only know that they can log in a complaint but so far no one has done it.
5. Where academic work is concerned, students generally enjoy the new independence, even though they find it challenging having to work independently. They report that the teaching approach is very different from what they experienced in school, and they like it that their lecturers are informal and friendly.
In exchange, I shared with students one aspect of my experience on campus. All this talk about being treated badly and having no recourse to have their problems addressed prompted me to talk about the issue of student power. Generally they feel powerless. I told them briefly about the time when the students' union in Universiti malaya was active and strong, how it managed the students' transport on campus, awarded financial assistance to poor students, organised talks and forums, etc I told them about Dr Khong , the Academic director of HELP Institute - how he was an active student leader,and now he's a highly responsible leader in the community of education.I want them to be aware that they too have power - it's just that they need to harness it and get organised.
We discussed why Fahmi Reza's "Student Power" lectures are not allowed in the public HEIs - the authorities are too afraid of students becoming aware of their power. But I told them student power has been used for good before - to address social injusice, to help the downtrodden in society, to make life better on campus, etc They seem very surprised to hear about what UMSU used to do.
I told them about the notion of "Speakers' Corner", soapbox oratory etc The importance of freedom of expression, dialogue. The reason why Interfaith Dialogues have not proceeded in Malaysia is that the authorities are fearful of people knowing more about one another!
1. Students' hostels charge different rates , and students have no choice of hostels. One hostel may cost a student about RM2 per day , and another can be as much as RM4. Apparently, when a student enquired about the different rates, she was asked by the clerk "boleh bayar tak?", and when she replied "boleh", she was told " bayar aje la!".
There is apparently no noticeable difference in the facilities provided by the different hostels, so what is the basis for differential rates?
2. Students say they are often treated badly by counter personnel. They are spoken to rudely, get scolded and the service is generally very inefficient. Liana shared her experience of asking for a simple letter to cetify that she wasn't on scholarship, so that she could show it to the Sarawak state authorities to ask for financial support. it took her a few trips over 3 weeks, and when the letter was finally prepared, there was an error and so she has to wait yet another week. Jason reported on an incident of asking the technician to attend to the non-functioning of the washing machine, and was told to file a report. he believes that all that was needed was for the technician to switch on the machine, but Jason couldnt do it himself because the main switch was in a locked enclosure.
3. Students have to pay RM50 per semster for internet access via Jaring. They're allowed 10GB, but Vincent reports that his 10GB has mysteriously been used up, and he has to pay to reload!
Now that I realise students are paying for access, I can't get students to log in for me when I use the internet in class anymore.
4. Students say they don't know who to turn to when they need help or support. They only know that they can log in a complaint but so far no one has done it.
5. Where academic work is concerned, students generally enjoy the new independence, even though they find it challenging having to work independently. They report that the teaching approach is very different from what they experienced in school, and they like it that their lecturers are informal and friendly.
In exchange, I shared with students one aspect of my experience on campus. All this talk about being treated badly and having no recourse to have their problems addressed prompted me to talk about the issue of student power. Generally they feel powerless. I told them briefly about the time when the students' union in Universiti malaya was active and strong, how it managed the students' transport on campus, awarded financial assistance to poor students, organised talks and forums, etc I told them about Dr Khong , the Academic director of HELP Institute - how he was an active student leader,and now he's a highly responsible leader in the community of education.I want them to be aware that they too have power - it's just that they need to harness it and get organised.
We discussed why Fahmi Reza's "Student Power" lectures are not allowed in the public HEIs - the authorities are too afraid of students becoming aware of their power. But I told them student power has been used for good before - to address social injusice, to help the downtrodden in society, to make life better on campus, etc They seem very surprised to hear about what UMSU used to do.
I told them about the notion of "Speakers' Corner", soapbox oratory etc The importance of freedom of expression, dialogue. The reason why Interfaith Dialogues have not proceeded in Malaysia is that the authorities are fearful of people knowing more about one another!
Mid semester evaluation
recap on the past couple of weeks:
I've been using the laptop in class to log onto the internet so that I can show students the resources they can use. The most active network is Jaring but I have to get the students to log on for me since I don't have an account. So far I've shown them Speak-good-english, better-english, and just-english. I showed them a site on learning collocations, where there are lists of common collocations (verb + noun) , and quizzes and games to play (hangman). I also showed them trivia sites - eg on cities or countries of the world. This is related to one of the units in the book, and it would also improve students' general knowledge . ( The level of general knowledge is quite frightening!)
I will have to check on their use of such resources later.
I've been emailing them jokes, and a few respond to show their appreciation. I also email them the webvideo sites for the Fairly current Show, and the Effing show - and articles on student activism ( eg Fahmi Reza's Student Power talks, videos). So far only 4 or 5 studentsseem to have actually read all the stuff I send them, the rest don't check their email regularly because of poor internet connections at their hostel.
I am preparing a list of questions to guide students' reflection on their experience of the SKPD1033 course so far. In order to train them on reflection (even though a few students claim they know how to dio it), I got them to write a short reflective piece in class on "My experience as an undergrdauate so far". They then read out their pieces to share, which allowed me to point out to them where they could reflect further. I don't want students to merely report and describe superficially what they have done, I want them to think about their experience critically and say how they feel, what they think, and even to suggest what they'd prefer/want to be done.
I'll get the feedback via email - give students sufficient time to reflect over the weekend.
I've been using the laptop in class to log onto the internet so that I can show students the resources they can use. The most active network is Jaring but I have to get the students to log on for me since I don't have an account. So far I've shown them Speak-good-english, better-english, and just-english. I showed them a site on learning collocations, where there are lists of common collocations (verb + noun) , and quizzes and games to play (hangman). I also showed them trivia sites - eg on cities or countries of the world. This is related to one of the units in the book, and it would also improve students' general knowledge . ( The level of general knowledge is quite frightening!)
I will have to check on their use of such resources later.
I've been emailing them jokes, and a few respond to show their appreciation. I also email them the webvideo sites for the Fairly current Show, and the Effing show - and articles on student activism ( eg Fahmi Reza's Student Power talks, videos). So far only 4 or 5 studentsseem to have actually read all the stuff I send them, the rest don't check their email regularly because of poor internet connections at their hostel.
I am preparing a list of questions to guide students' reflection on their experience of the SKPD1033 course so far. In order to train them on reflection (even though a few students claim they know how to dio it), I got them to write a short reflective piece in class on "My experience as an undergrdauate so far". They then read out their pieces to share, which allowed me to point out to them where they could reflect further. I don't want students to merely report and describe superficially what they have done, I want them to think about their experience critically and say how they feel, what they think, and even to suggest what they'd prefer/want to be done.
I'll get the feedback via email - give students sufficient time to reflect over the weekend.
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