At 16:30 today, I’ll start teaching Enterprise Application Development to MSc Advanced Computing students of the CDAC School of Advanced Computing, a joint venture between the University of Mauritius and the Center for Development of Advanced Computing in India.
Of course, I’ll only do that on a part-time basis, once per week (Wednesday from 16:30 – 19:30) for the next 15 weeks. I’m still the Managing-Director of Knowledge Seven Ltd :-)
I was a little bit unwilling to take up that module initially, so soon after leaving the University of Mauritius and still in the process of launching my own company. In the end, I accepted because (i) I was going to be paid for that (ha!), (ii) I had developed the outline for the Enterprise Application Development module when I was at the University with the view to teach it one day and (iii) I love teaching.
Argh! One hour left! Are my slides ready? And my rotin bazaar?
feel a little bit less “couyon” each time i read this blog :)
Rotin Bazaar?? Do you really need that for MSc. students??
Enjoy teaching Sir…
Wish you all the very best ;)
Hi Deven, what do you mean exactly?
Chaya, fortunately I didn’t have to use one today and I don’t think I’ll have to for the remaining weeks. But sometimes you need to show some authority :-)
…that i always learn a few things each time i read your blog :)
i like your idea and the way of bringing up the previous posts again. nice.
Showing some authority is indeed a must, I must say. I am a student too, and I often see how my fellow classmates take some lecturers for granted, and it’s a shame to notice that with the current generation. Those students attend lectures when they want, or only during the last sessions just before the exams with the aim of getting some tips if the lecturer would give any. And I hate that attitude.
There is one point I would like to raise here. {given you mentioned about authority which leads me to think about something else}.
Being a lecturer at UoM previously, did you (for your classes) take attendance into consideration? Does the 80% attendance protocol really exist in practice? It’s indeed to my dismay to see that some students do not attend any lectures nor lab sessions (with the idea that, “this module is pretty easy, and I can learn in on my own”, but however get low marks for class tests/exams) and yet they are allowed a seat for the exams. What is your opinion about this?
The rules have changed as far as I know. 80% attendance is not required now to sit for the exams.
[As an aside, I admit that I skipped a lot of classes during my RCC days — much less so at University. Most of the time, I skipped classes because I found the lecturer (or teacher) not interesting or not competent enough. And most of the time, I went directly home to read a good book on Computer Science. That was before the Internet made books unfashionable ;-) ]
Hi,
Am one of your MSc students…
It was nice interacting with you…
Rotin bazar – real or virtual???
Virtual of course! But in the metaphorical sense :-)
I sometimes make my best to attend lectures, though the slides are not well prepared to teach (blue background, red text, green text, horrifying animations). and the key to mastering the specific course is to obtain examples which help illustrate the concept.
I take my favourite book during the lecture(which I could had read at home at stayed at home) and read examples given, immediately after that the lecturer has explained the concept (by explain I mean reading the slides :D). Then in my copybook, merge the best to understand the concept WITH examples, something that will help for revision.
Here’s an interesting quote from a ‘competent’ lecturer:
“I do not consider you as students but people who want to learn. And I am here to help you. So please think and voice out your analytical thoughts. don’t expect rote learning.”
I notice one think in common amongst competent academics, they say:
Interestingly, Mr. Sadek, PhD, also emphasized on it.
What’s your opinion, given your 10 + years experience in teaching?
Your quote is spot on. My job as a teacher is to make the student think by himself/herself. Becoming independent is the best way for someone to have a great career and, consequently, a great life.
Unfortunately, some students couldn’t care less. They just want to get that bloody piece of paper which says that they have gone through the whole process and earned at least 40% of the marks…
Now i know kids who were bunking other classes to attend your lectures :p.
Hmm… specially for a lazy guy like me to wake up in the morning to attend lectures [damned it still is hard to wake up early], used to make a huge effort to cmoe in your classes.
lol actually was telling some kids the other day how unlucky they were not to have ever tried a lecture with you. LOL.
anywayz, lucky the cdac dudes.
As for the rotin bazar stuff :p didn’t know you’ve started to have spanking fantasies! hahahahaahahaha
+$3|v3n
I don’t really have spanking fantasies but having some authority is important when you’re a teacher :-)