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!

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.