First Reflection of 2017

It's Thursday afternoon and very quiet. Nobody is around. I can only hear the chirping of the birds and the sound of the air-conditioner and my own typing at the keyboard of this computer. It has been a while since I've done any reflections on my teaching.

Oh yes! The semester has ended. I feel somewhat numb from the flooding loads of work that had to be completed last week.

It's over? I can't believe it is over!

My family and I actually stayed and slept in my office for 2 nights last week as we could not go home because of the flood that blocked the way to our home. I did not sleep as I was completing the uploading of the marks for all my 9 classes of 5 different codes.

Feeling overwhelmed. I just need to pour my reflection here to unload some of my thoughts that have been playing in my mind. Facebook updates have not been enough.

I need to spring-clean my room too. Need to get rid of those papers that are no longer necessary to be kept.

To be continued.

Going home.

My Special Break Activity

It has been a very quiet week when the students are on their special one week break. I could have taken a break too but I have decided not to so that I can look at finalizing the on-going assessment marks for my two classes of 47 students from my BEL499 classes. For the whole week, I've looked at my students work with less distractions as I did not have to go to classes to teach or allow my students to see me for personal or group consultations. I specifically focus on my 2 classes of Degree in Accounting students this week.

The tedious part has been to look at the e-Portfolio as I had to go to the links one by one and go through each one before deciding on the marks. I'd love to give 'excellent' grades to everyone but that won't be fair to those who had gone the extra miles preparing their sites. A lot of information can be discovered from their portfolios. It's not just about the content. The way everything is put together can portray the personality of that person. Besides the language element, I also looked at how my students used images and styles in creating this very important document.

In this situation, the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover" cannot be applied.
You are going to be judged by what is shown. You will be judged whether you will fit in to be the member of the professional bodies. In this case, will you fit in to hold the image of an accountant?    

One of the criteria that I looked at was how my students organised their certificates. Although certificates might be easily accessible in their physical folders and files, it might be difficult if they had not been consistent in updating the files. Some students just scanned the documents and put them on the websites without proper labeling and order. Some had just selected a few and left the most important ones like the academic transcripts and their diploma certificates. Without proper labeling, you are asking the readers/interviewers to guess.

Okay, I better stop rambling now. What I wanted to share today is that I managed to achieve my goal for this week,that is to complete 'keying in the on-going assessments marks' for BEL499.

So, what's left for the next two weeks is to complete doing the Evaluation 2, the Hiring Interview sessions. At least for this subject!

I have 6 classes of EWC661 to evaluate too.

Besides teaching and evaluating, the setting and vetting of exam questions are also in progress in between and overlapping with other tasks yet to be completed.

So, there goes 'My Special Break Activity'.

P/S: Lecturers don't necessarily go for a break when their students are having theirs.

Holidays and Weekends

In the end,how many hours are left for teaching and learning?

Minus holidays.

Minus public holidays.

Minus 1 week of mid-semester break.

Minus 1 week of special break.

Minus compulsory faculty events.

Minus 3 weeks for presentations and evaluations.

Yes,my dear students! 

Independent learning is necessary. 

Less than 2 hours per week in class is definitely not enough.

Rescheduling and Reallocating

While I was sitting reflecting on this week's classes, I think I might not have done very well this week. I wanted to give too much in such a short time. Less than 2 hours to cover several topics. I realized that within that time,it could be the only time that my students will 'touch' their textbooks.

I started to make some calculations.
I have 6 classes of EWC661.
In each class, I have between 28 to 36 students.
So,I will have 7 to 9 groups of on-going reports to supervise in 1 class.
I have 188 students taking this course which is the same number that I have to evaluate for their final exam paper that is 7 pages long.

Now,I wonder if the process approach to report writing can work well this time.

Okay, I'm taking a deep breath!

Wait a minute!
I have 2 BEL499 classes too.
Their resumes and job application letters have been submitted.
47 resumes and letters to be checked and evaluated.
Assuming that I look at each one of them between 5 to 10 minutes,
I need to allocate at least 470 minutes x 2 = 940 minutes.
(About 16 hours) = (4 hours x 4 days) = (2 hours x 8 days) = (1 hour x 16 days).

I'll go for the 2 hours per day of evaluating in between classes for 2 weeks.
This seems to be the most realistic time frame.

Oh dear! What about the setting of exam questions?
Today, I have been assigned to set another part of test question to be done in a few week's time.

Too much to give,not much time given.

It's time for me to reschedule and reallocate more realistic time frame.

Spring-cleaning My Office

Last semester ended in a breeze.
It had been my busiest semester with 273 students from 11 different classes and 5 different subjects taught. Imagine the amount of evaluation and marking of tests,assignments,reports and final exam scripts that I had to mark. When all had been uploaded,the setting of examination questions followed. Well actually, even before the final examinations were not yet done,the task of setting exam questions were given. I had to set 2 codes and also had to vet them. Setting exam questions can be challenging as you need to follow the specified test specifications and find suitable articles that match the requirements.

I haven't had any 'real' break since September 2014 as one task leads to another.

March 2015 started and ended in a blink I would say.

My room was in a mess full of students' papers. I usually make preparation for the following week on Thursdays after my last class, but not today!

Today, it was the start of my 'spring-cleaning' session for my room. I must throw away all the unnecessary items in  my room to make room for the next heaps and piles of reports and assignments coming in a few weeks time.