Change of Plan

The initial plan this week was to ask all groups of EWC661 to do a 'pilot test' on the questionnaires that they had prepared. After looking at some questionnaires created, I decided to give more input and lectures on the basic steps that they need to know. I want them to see the link between the topics that they have chosen and the purpose of their studies. I want them to really understand what actually they want to know about. If they could not answer this basic question, they will have a difficult time to proceed.

Of course,I had approved all the titles since week 3 and 4 but I could see that not all groups had done further research or readings on the related topics. So,for my Sunday and Monday classes,which were 4 classes, I did a very quick review on several very important topics that I have covered briefly before.

The topics covered include:

1. Data collection
2. Sampling
3. Data processing
4. Questionnaire(sample)
5. Background of the Study

Open-Ended Question Data Analysis

https://youtu.be/yWBXV651yd4

How to conduct Interviews?

https://youtu.be/A-VhzWKaHB4

Designing a Questionnaire

https://youtu.be/FkX-t0Pgzzs

What is a Questionnaire?

https://youtu.be/CfEga-dr_Ww

The Magic Tricks

For the past 2 weeks, I have taught all my 6 groups of EWC661 - English for Report Writing classes 'The Magic Tricks' to assist them in completing their reports. As expected, nobody knew any of the 'secrets' in Microsoft Word that I've shared with them.

The content of my hands-on lecture includes the usage of these functions:

1. Headings
2. Page Break
3. Page Number 
4. Multi-level Numbering
5. Navigation Pane
6. Review
7. Spelling and Grammar
8. Thesaurus
9. New Comment
10. Table of Contents
11. Table of Figures
12. Table of Illustrations
13. Update Table of Contents

Everything was done in about 15 minutes towards the end of my lecture as a 'reward' to them.

So,my dear students,how have you enjoyed 'The Magic Tricks'?

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.