Showing posts with label getting started. Show all posts
Showing posts with label getting started. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Getting started on the research project

We're into the 3nd week of the new semester ( when Dr Imran Ho Abdullah, the Deputy Dean for Undergraduate Programmes, calls the 3 of us ( Fiz, Fei and me) for a meeting. Fiz is the coordinator for SKPD1033, Fei and I teach on the course and we both happen to have one class each that's considered small (5 to 6 students). Imran wants us to participate in a research study that he's already written a proposal for, but sadly, has no team as yet. He wants to get evidence to support his belief that small class size is good for learning. I point out that there are many factors involved, one consistently important one being the teacher, but he says NVM, u can tweak the proposal later, just agree to be on the project , and here, sign, sign !
We hesitate, he urges. We have other commitments. We can't simply agree without sleeping over it. He knows if he lets us leave to sleep over it , he might only see us sign the proposal in his dreams. We laugh at his sales tactic - for a small guy, he sure can bulldoze.
Eventually, the altruistic educator in me sees this as an opportunity to document what I do in my class, and to share it with younger teachers , or to show older ones it's possible to enjoy our work and expand ourselves no matter how many years we've been at it.
So I sign. And so do Fiz and Fei.