Teach less Learn more

This is the latest ‘catch phrase’ that the Poly's Teaching and Learning Centre is using to advertise the ‘new’ approach to teaching. After going though their induction day for International Fellows, I felt rather confident, as what they consider as ‘new’ is very much the same way tutorials are run at the unimelb. In a nutshell, what TLC is advocating, is a move from an Oracle, know-it-all, type of a teacher, to a more human facilitator who is more concerned with students’ wellbeing ant not in love with the subject material.

Back in Melbourne my (very) low power, friendly, facilitating approach to teaching worked very well, so I decided to start of with it here as well, and adjust things as needed. So far there hasn't been much need for adjustments, and things are going rather well, but we’re about to start only 4th of 16 teaching weeks, so better leave evaluation for later.

The reason why I mentioned extra effort for appreciation of different style of teaching is two fold (not to just put it due to the socio-political circumstances). One, as evident by TLC’s new campaign for ‘less teaching...’, is that it seems that students are quite comfortable with teacher running though all the slides while most of them are engaged in their own world via their laptops.

And second, as I’ve heard a lot about before arriving here, the students are less mature then the ones I’ve got accustom to. The difference in age is small, but the one in their attitude towards the studies is rather significant. So for the example, an obstacle to efficient lessons is a laptop. As the School does not have a typical computer lab setting, the students are required to bring their laptops. By having their own laptops, there is no regulation on what kind of software can be installed. This means that lecture time is games, games, and more games for guys and as many Korean TV soaps for girls. And, of course everybody’s into on-line chat, chat, chat… (Helping a student last week to debug a Java program, I was laughing at the frequency of msn chat’s notification popping up in the system tray… easily 1 in 5 seconds.)

Ideally, I would get all my students to:
a) take more responsibility for their studies (unlike some lecturers, I'm not going to be giving them a call to a mobile to remind them about their exam the night before - an extreme and isolated example, I hope).
b) think for themselves, it seems that they are not used to questions such as 'what do you think' n 'why'...
c) actively participate by asking questions and commenting on each others answers.

Thanks to circumstances, it will be hard to achieve the above, as I’ll have to get them to realise it for themselves without (explictitly) telling it to them.

And by the way, a thing that I’ll have to get accustom to is being referred to as MrZoran/Sir/Teacher/Cher, as quite a number of students cannot seem to get over the power barrier and refer to me by the 1st name only, without any prefixes or titles.

Dilemma

I'm quite confused w/ all this shit now, don't k wtf to do...

a) Act supper blur (as though nothing happened) n let Director continue to think that I threatened her. If I was boss, n I felt threatened by one of my low/est ranked employees, what would I do, I ask myself? Hmmmmm, well that's easy...

b) Go and discuss situation. -Too confrontational.

c) eM explanation. Too impersonal... lack of context. Though if she misunderstood me in person maybe I have a better chance of getting though like that. - I mean, how much worse can it get?

d) Arrange meeting w/ all the parties involved. Director expressed her concerns of being threatened by IF-I-was-a-teacher teacher to Deputy Director and my RO. So maybe a discussion with 4 people in there would not be as confrontational to any one person.

e) ...?

Ps: just as I was writing this I was interrupted. This very moment Sinthya, a fellow teacher here, left my office. She was here to tell me how her mentees (a 2nd yr class that she is assigned to mentor, and I teach OOAD) are completely confused. They have no idea what's going on, they are concerned. They don't understand the accent. There's a Cro saying that says 'when devil takes a crap, devil shits on one pile'. The best advice I got for teaching here comes from Murray. At the end of my professional development day for IF Murray said: "keep your sense of humor".... Thus, it's not my fault that I was born with intimidatingly good looks n sexy voice.

Irony - an example

Received from the teacher on Aug 15th:

Hi Z,

I am sorry to hear about your plight. I have checked with the appropriate person in charge of approving ISMs and unfortunately it is not possible to approve 2 ISMs in the same semester. As you realise, there are administrative rules that the department has to follow. As mentioned earlier, the option you have if you need to do two ISMs, is to do it over two semesters.

Best wishes,

M

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Sent to the student on Aug 28th:

Hi NJ,

I am sorry to see you plight just now, this late in the semester. Though I sincerely wish that I could help you, unfortunately the semester is officially completed, and the administrative regulations at the school have to be obeyed.

Best wishes,

Z

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PS: It was my 1st day as a teacher at the school here in Spora two years ago today. And yesterday was the anniversary of the arrival. Time sure does fly, at the ever increasing speeds...

Whoops, I did it again

And this time to no other then to my boss. Not just my own Reporting Officer, but the RO's boss, the school's director. It turns out that little over the top eM to explain to me the concept of graduation is, according to my RO, because Director felt I threatened her in order to get her to approve my leave - and she doesn't want be subjected to threats from anybody.

The fact that she doesn't like threats is understandable; that she feels that I have threatened her is laughable.

At least I'm laughing about it now. Though the reality is that I might not be laughing for long and I sure wasn't when I heard about it at first this afternoon - it was more like.... haaa... wtf...

Well joke aside, why I might not be laughing for long (around here) is b/c my next contract is in the air. When I went there to talk to her at the end of the day on Monday her PA gave me the new contract (w/ old terms) to sign. Contract was due to be signed on that Monday, again I was like 'why like this?'. PA was not around so the offer was sitting on her desk for a whole week, and she said that she'll buy me more time with HR and then eM me about the new due date.

When my RO told me about Director's feelings after the meeting, my instinct was to go and discuss this bad miscommunication w/ Director straight away. But I didn't, as working in the same way as I would in my own village doesn't work around here - obviously. David explained to me that you don't discuss these sort of confrontational issues by confronting the person whom you had an issue with again. Even though the only reason for talking to them directly again shortly following 'the issue' would be to iron it out, discuss the differences, and apologise if necessary. I tried it twice previously. David's right.

To sprinkle dash of irony onto the scenario, that meeting last Friday was the preparation for this morning's 'Staff Communication Session 2007' - thought they forgot to pout in prefix 'Theatrical', but apparently it's omitted b/c it's the common sense around here. As part of the preparation during that last Friday, Director gave presentation titled 'Organizational Communication'. The presentation was covering topics on congruent communication and managing your boss. Following the presentation Director ran the workshop on how to ask constructive non-threatening, non-self serving questions. According to the lesson from her own presentation, Director failed to take on the visual cues and focused too much on the other 7% of communication - apparently 93% is visual - namely: 'Then I'll just go to HR, and claim it there.'

iiiiiiitttttttt'sssAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaJJJOOOOKKKKEEEEEEE...!


Ps: Lose transcript from 5min meeting on Mon:

PA: Z's here to see you. (To depict the context a bit: the moment PA opened Director's door, until I left it was all ha ha ha... basically every sentence finished with a laughter/smile/giggle. At one point of interaction, not sure what was discussed (hope not the tonality of my voice) she taped my shoulder - I noticed that as I founded it surprising, and also as apparently she's reading all the psycho stuff (as well:)).

me: aren't you going to say something more for the introduction, after all that interrogation just now (PA asked me all about why am I seeing the director before she walked me into her office).

me: Hi thanks for this. (pointing at the new contract PA just handed to me moments ago. PA's exiting the office).

D: I was wondering whose is that deep sexy voice on the other side of the door (she heard me while I was chating w/ the PA about the need for at least a month more before I can sign the contract (so I can find some other offer in order to get some bargening power with target of getting better contract - more $) ).

me: Thanks, but I only hope students can understand it (my voice, and thus what I'm saying).

me: I was gonna catch up w/ you after our staff meeting on Friday, but didn't get to, so hence I'm here now. During your presentation you mentioned that graduation is compulsory. That was a surprise to me...

D: some BS on importance of graduation.

me: the thing is I booked my ticket in February for a trip to Vietnam for the duration of the break.

me: blabbing on about how I understand the pressures are there that I don't see, setting precedence, rules and so on... but I am' just an IF-i was a-teacher teacher, it's my 1st year, I didn't know...

D: some more BS on how all staff are seen as equal 'we are all equal'.

me: that sounds nice (ha ha ha)

D: what do you mean? We treat everybody the same..... some more about importance and precedences.

D: reschedule; other's have done so as well.

me: my ticket cannot be changed. what do I do about that?

D: ~~

me: I'll just get you to pay for my ticket then (ha ha).

D: we cannot do that

me: Then I'll just go to HR and claim it there (approving claims is of the things that HR actually does around here. Though it wouldn't work in a way I had in mind (get full re-found), not in a million yrs - I know it, she knows it, HR knows it, everybody knows it - hence funny)

D: ha ha ha (or was it my imagination seeing her laugh)

D: I'll talk to your RO and deputy D, and then I'll eM u.

me: thanking her for the time and leaving by saying that I hope she can make everybody happy.


Pps: Communication is what other person perceives you've said, not what you say. (ref?)

Employer of Choice

The best university to study at, the best employer to work for... there are numerous rankings out there, but what difference does it really make for people working/studying at an organisation?

For some reason I have always been attracted to this (BS) discourse, and it was no different this morning when I've seen Duncan Smith's post at LinkedIn on Employer of Choice:

Employee feedback sessions I've run have been much more effective when we start with "what's good about working here?", then go to "what are the challenges?" and finish with "what could you do to improve things?". Needless to say, people have more to say about the problems, and sometimes struggle to take ownership of solutions -- it's easier to blame "management", or someone else, than to figure out how to take responsibility. To me, part of being a real EOC would be fostering an environment in which employees were encouraged to contribute improvements as a matter of course. What's the trade-off between real engagement and management control?

MY RESPONSE:
Unfortunately seems it's quite common that rhetoric which echoes in the media and/or upper echelons of a management is hardly reflected in opinions of majority who work in an organisation (what they say, and what they do are rarely the same). In my experience, even true for SME - which is truly a shame.

Duncan, I love your definition of a 'real' EOC: "fostering an environment in which employees were encouraged to contribute improvements as a matter of course". And to answer your question directly: I don't see it as a trade of (at all?).

A scenario for a 'real' EOC:

Management asks the type of questions Duncan suggested (i.e. "what's good about working here?", then go to "what are the challenges?" and finish with "what could you/WE do to improve things?") – Furthermore, management requests for ANONYMOUS answers in order to improve the richness of information provided, and to help eliminate biases during the feedback evaluation.

1. The exercise is conducted periodicity; Say once a year to collect the feedback (if big organisation, it might be more useful at department/region level)
2. The feedback is communicated back to employees
3. Management acts upon the feedback

Through this exercise, the management would actually have the chance to improve the control while simultaneously enhancing employee engagement.

-Out of so many people providing (independent) feedback a common themes will surface (experienced employees), and even some unique gems might be highlighted (likely from newbies).

-Management will know exactly what to do in order to improve employees’ satisfaction; where, satisfaction => commitment => productivity => revenue.

(On this note: don't you find it funny when few lock themselves behind the closed door and brainstorm for days on what many on the other side of the door want. Here's an idea: how bout just ask for a change? - Alas, seems Voltaire was not kidding when he said that "Common sense is not so common.")

-Employees will feel engaged, and will be much more likely to commit to the subsequent decisions made, as they will feel the ownership of the decisions (i.e. ( not all) decisions were simply 'forced' top-down).

- Management can even use the method to (deceivingly) piggy-back their own directive that they wanted to push through, and say (lie) that it came from the feedback.

This exact approach worked fabulously in a teacher-students relationship. Please tell me why similar couldn't work in a commercial setting?

As the bottom line in this discussion (where salary and many other aspects are ignored), what really matters is the involvement: everybody likes to be asked, to have the opportunity to express themselves (their opinion). And in today's society of on-line social networks that's true more than ever. More and more of today's employees not just have the habit of expressing their opinion, but they need/demand the opportunity to do so.

And if that wasn't enough: two heads - in big majority of circumstances - are better than one. As nicely elaborated in 'The Wisdom of Crowds' by James Surowiecki.

Hope to see more 'real' EOC candidates out there.

Cheers...!

Ps: Duncan, two follow up questions for you, and anyone else willing to share their opinion:

a) In your definition of a real EOC you say: "To me, PART of being a real EOC..." What other ‘parts’ would you like to see in a real EOC?

b) What's your answer to your own question: "What's the trade-off between real engagement and management control?"

Much Appreciated.

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UPDATED, 5th October 09.

According to this article (based on a Corporate Executive Board study of employee engagement survey results) employees at the best companies rated each of the following characteristics at least 20% higher than any other category, compared to employees at other organizations:

1. Belief in Leadership
2. Personal Connection to Company Strategy
3. Innovative Culture
4. Accountability
5. Emphasis on Achievement

By: Dianne Jacobs

The Phoenix Degree

As February 2009 was coming to an end, so was the unpaid holiday, and two choices were left standing as the possible next step:

• go back to Melbourne, should the uni approve my request to continue the study for one more semester and complete the degree; otherwise
• get to Zadar from Singapore without the use of the aeroplane transportation in time for Puhi's wedding on the 30th of May. I gladly accepted Puhi's ultimate compliment to be his best man a few years earlier.

Luckily, I passed the two out of three subjects while studying during the August-December 2008 semester at NUS. Thus, providing the proof to the UniMelb that my leave of absence has not gone beyond 2 years - one of the sticky points - and more importantly, a justification to resurrect my degree from the ashes.

I enrolled into Knowledge Management class. Landed in Melbourne on the 5th of March 2009, just in time to make it to my 1st class of the semester. Taking all the events that took place prior this into consideration, it's needless to say that I enjoyed the study like never before. For a change, I did the work as it was suppose to be done - to the best of my ability, and on time. The subject did not have the final exam - a lucky coincidence, as I choose it quickly based on the 'sexy title' (as Ray might say) - so I managed to arrange to make it to Puhi's wedding and stay for half a year - if not more - away from Melbourne. After the wedding, there was two more weeks of school work that I did remotely while in Zadar. Gratitude goes to the KM teaching team and my project group who OK-ed my contribution to be provided remotely. When it came to the last bit of work, the individual component, I did well, but not as well as I could have. At the end of the day, the grade did not matter so I compromised my effort on the final component in favour of enjoying the time being back home-home. The main objective was just to pick up few more credit points and close the chapter on the formal education (at least for now). In addition, being a teacher for a while, I knew that the work done for the group project was by itself already adequate for a decent final grade. After the final submission - the individual component - the feeling of contentment/happiness/pride was making me do the triple-backward-flips - in my head that is. On the outside, I just had a slight grin. Actually, thinking about I grin now as well. In the end, I ended up with 83% for the finial subject mark, and with it successfully completed the journey that started back in February 2002.

On the 8th of August 2009, they will call out my name - in the absence for the third ceremony of this kind (plan changed) - during the graduation for The Master of Information Systems...!

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Thirst for Travel:

As the unpaid holiday was approaching to an end, and with no news from the UniMelb, option of going back to uni was becoming less and less likely, and simultaneously, option b) more and more exciting by the each passing day: to travel lightly - very lightly - from Singapore to Zadar on trains and buses, slowly moving from on place to another... At the end of the February, with the approval to continue the study finally secured, part of me was sad that the option b) will have to stay on the back burner until the next opportunity... maybe to (motor)bike the route.

Dubai & Iran

A day of marking after the Indonesian trip, and I was again on the way to the airport. This time to Dubai for 3 days, followed by 7 days in Iran.

- Iran! -Why Iran!? - 'haven't been there', would be the short, usual answer. In this case: -Well, the day after our Thailand holiday, Roza moved to Dubai to take her new position, which requires her to stay in Iran during the 1st year (or 1st and a half, depending on who you ask).

Dubai - The construction site

I've never seen so many cranes in one place - it's a real crane forest over there. The latest tallest building, The Palm islands, The World Islands, etc... everything is on sale, to be completed in few years from now. If I was into construction, finding a job would have been a breeze - but I'm not... All that development made me wander about three questions: who are they expecting to move over there, how many of them, and why?

The highlight, the sightseeing highlight (;) of Dubai was the lunch at Burj Al Arab.
Having three waiters asking you if 'everything is fine' after every serving - that's: manyServings X 3 = annoying - was the only thing that wasn't up to the standard of the world's only '7 star' hotel. Food was really nice, and the view from the 26th floor was even better (e.g. impressive Palm Jumeirah)... The interior of the hotel doesn't really agree with 'my style' – mainly it seems ‘too busy’. Whereas, I really like the sail inspired exterior.

On my 2nd day in Dubai, I went for a walk-around between 1 and 4pm. That was one tiring walk. The super dry air with temperature of 40 degrees Celsius does that to you. The better time to visit Dubai, when maximum temperatures don’t surpass 30, is between November and March.

Iran - The pretty contradictions

There was lots of talk about visa before my trip. At the end, it was only Emirates Airlines who gave us some trouble... everything else, visa related, was smooth.

This is another country is a place that I really would have liked to travel more.... It's a similar impressions that I had after the India trip... There are just lots of interesting/surprising/insightful things...

The place itself reminds me of both things India and things Europe... guess geographical location of the country would point out at that one. For example, in the capital, Tehran, the crowds and the traffic, and more so the way navigating through traffic - w/o much reference to the rules - is very similarly to what you would find in India. Though majority of cars in that traffic are made by one of the three famous French brands (Renault, Peugeot and Citroen). Moreover, a considerable parentage of those cars are quite newer models. French car makers have their factories in the country, making the cars, relatively speaking, 'more affordable'.

I am not big fan of going to museums during travels - manly due to the time constraints. Though, on this occasion I ended up there. National museum in Tehran is not all that big, but what it lacks on quantity it definitely makes up for it in quality. Impressive amount of things date well into the B.C.s years... some going back all the way to 40-50K B.C. Number of artifacts look as though I have seen them on some TV show.

Persians are pretty people... some ladies are just 'wow'... It was interesting to see your usual trendy hottie (make-up, dyed hair, manicure ...) and then, for the finish, there's a colorful scarf on the top of a head... How high on a head the scarf is, how little hair does it cover, and how colorful it is, - apparently - is a telling sign on how religious she is. People enjoying the luxuries of 'western life style' (think party) is not uncommon, though they only do it in the safety of their own/friends homes.

Esfahan trip was an adventure. We came back to Teheran without the car and without the camera. The car's engine gasket blew 4h into the journey, 50km before arriving to Esfahan. (I was not happy to have guessed the problem straight away, but my 1989 Nissan Bluebird showed the exact same symptoms a while back).

The taxi driver who picked us up after the car got towed away was not the most 'ethical' guy out there. But let's be nice and blame part of the unknown and over-priced taxi fair on the misunderstanding.

And then to top it all off, I dropped the camera during the (different) cab ride to the bus station at the end of the day. - ALL THE PHOTOS, LOST :(

None the less, Esfahan is the place to visit. The city, at the time, was the biggest in the world, and it was a political and cultural center of Iran. The amount of lavishly extravagant (Lonely Planet's vocabulary to describe it) architecture build in the name of the religion and rulers is definitely worth witnessing. E.g. Imam Mosque.

The day-trip to Caspian Sea was - luckily - straight forward. Also, Roza brought her camera along. The weather wasn't the best, and as I didn't have the 'speedos' I did not try to 'read the paper while floating' - the sea has a high salt density.

Driving from place to place, was by and through the 'naked' mountains. On the way south from Tehran the mountains are further apart so it seems as though you travel along side them. In the northern area, you travel trough the mountain gorge to get to the sea.

After all that driving related talk, credit is due to Roza's driver for all the extra driving he did during my stay. Also, the dinner and pistachios - did you know Iran was famous for pistachios? - I thought they come form Italy :)

My flight back in Spora landed at 7:30am. I was in the apartment at 8:45, and in the classroom at 9:15 - what a teacher!:?

What a holiday!

Thanks Roza...!

Ps: wish I had the next travel in sight, but for the 1st time in a while looks as though I'll have to 'lock' my passport.

Me, The Professional F...ellow - The beginning

I had the interview, the one mentioned few days ago, earlier today. I felt it went quite good overall. On my way back home, thinking about it, I was pleased with my performance, happily leaving 'the ball on their side of the court'. Once I got home, I learned that the feeling, regarding how well the interview went, was mutual. The interview went for two hours and 15min, and it can be broken down into two distinct stages:

WRITTEN  

First, I had to fill in the form with my personal info (why, it's already all on my CV!?), and  how much I have been earning, how much do I expect to earn once I start, and when would I like to start. Following this, a surprise came along: I was given a written test. It included exercises on Java and SQL, and a general question on the understanding of the Web 2.0. I grade my self - once a teacher... - on that part as B+. I messed up on some Java and SQL. I haven't been 'getting my hands dirty' with those sort of things all that much - pardon the teaching - for a long time now; well, to be exact, since I finished my CS degree from The Uni of Auckland back in 2000.

ORAL

Second part of the interview was conversational. Initially, after the test, I had quite a nice chat, the usual interview things, with one guy. One of the questions that I didn't get to ask him, before the CEO joined the chat, was what exactly is it that he does... I'll find that out next time. Lastly, as mentioned, the CEO joined the interview. And inevitably, the focus of the conversatio

n shifted towards him - to his credit, he did apologise to his subordinate. Again, this was a continuation of the good chat that I started off with the initial interviewee. Looking back at it, I feel I interviewed the CEO as much as he interview me - apparently a good thing (ref). On this note, Thanks YoonHin for giving me the advise during the brunch before the interview. The list of questions to ask came in very handy. As part of his answers, the CEO shared his view on the company's maturation process and the vision for the future. As I side note, he also said that my expected salary fits in nicely within the range of what they give to System Analysts, as well as that just last week he was at The Poly to meet up with his uni buddy, my ex Director. Apparently she told him 'to make sure to check me out'. Regardless of what happens at the end, I will definitely thank Director in person with some nice prezo (e.g. a basket full of juicy Apples).  

Once I got home, I called the HR to get the email address of the two people

 whose email addresses I didn't have: the guy who greeted me and got me comfortable to do the test, and the guy that started off the interview. By the time I opened up the mail to send out the four 'thank you for the interview' mails,  I already had a response from the HR Executive in my inbox, with the request to come for the 2nd interview this coming Friday the 10th. She sent out the invitation for the next interview just 40min after I left their office.  

That favorite line that echoes through the school's corridors comes to mind...

soFarSoGd...!   

Ps: events of the day leading to the interview worth mentioning:

• slept for 4 hours.
  
• talked to the Spanish neighbour, on my way home after the lunch with YoonHin, for far more than I did during all the conversations put together we had in the last two years since I've been here. I felt like I would have preferred to snooze for half an hour or so before getting ready for the interview, but chatting with him got me even more into a conversational stage, which turned out to be quite good. 
  
• this left me with little time to iron my shirt - a 1st time ever for me - shave, shower and dress up. 
  
• was tucking in the shirt, buckling the belt (not of the safety kind), and tying the shoes, all while the taxi driver was tying up my tie around his neck. Once he tied it up, he passed it to me - of course lah.
• There was a heavy rain at the time, and the Mercedes taxi came to pick me up. I love the tropical rain (as some of you would know). And the Mercedes taxi gave me the confidence that the driver will know how to tie the tie. Also, the fancy taxi can be seen as kind of symbolic to professionalism and all (yes, I think so :). 
• we left the apartment building at 2:35pm; 20min later then I planned for. Interview was scheduled for 3pm, we arrived in front of the office building 5min ahead; about 10min later then what I planed. Just-in-time; just the usual.
• the taxi driver actually drives only part time, he is also a real estate agent. MrDon, you can expect my call, as discussed, in the early November, to show me what kind of apartments you have available for me.
  
• what a great day. Guess the stars must have been nicely aligned... thanks Universe...!    
  

And 1s

Bits and peaces of things that happened during the last month and some change: This Saturday early morning I’ll be, for the first time, fulfilling my second objective of coming here, travelling to the neighbouring countries. First stop: India.

Shan and David had a ‘cold war’ going between them, which is now finally subsiding -we’re all having a dinner together at Shan’s place tonight (pic) for the first time in a long time. I felt (a bit) what kids must be feeling when the parents go though the divorce. Two ‘grown’ man acting like kids, I wanted to throw them over the knee…

Yesterday I had my first Invigilation Duty (exam police-ing) in the examination hall w/ some 600+ students. I was laughing about it all at the beginning as I was one of them just a few months back.

Ali left Tuesday morning. Sunny arrived Tuesday evening. Monkey came back here from his Indonesian trip on Sunday evening, and then left back home to Malaysia last night. Sunny departs tomorrow evening. I love having friends visiting over, but the frequency of it made me feel a bit like running a motel; I think the feeling is excused.

The appreciation I have for my uprising in a modest environment has grown a bit further. Thanks King :)

It will be interesting to see if (how) Apple is going to stick a phone into an iPod (this time around).

Another interesting techy story mentiones the potential for MS to tap-in with Zune: "Personally, the ultimate Wi-Fi feature I want is long-distance Zune to Zune sharing. If I can get on a Wi-Fi hotspot that connects to the internet, and so can my friend halfway across the country, I see no reason why I can't beam him a song, picture, or short video across the 'net. All the Zune needs is a friends list you could manage from the Zune PC software. I also want to "DJ" songs to other Zunes. Instead of sending them tracks, I want to stream audio to them, so I can play through a list of songs and have the other Zune users hear exactly what I hear, so we can jam out at the same time."

I like Daily Dime column at ESPN. It nicely summarises the news from the day’s games. In one of them ex Denver Nuggets GM was writing about their current coach: “When George first joined us in Denver, he loved the quality and quantity of players and talent we had. But one of problems with talent is dividing up the minutes. When you have fewer choices, you're not fighting the urge to experiment, because of your limited options. ...Injuries have solidified the lineup because it has taken the guesswork out.” This remained me that when writing about choices, I forgot the mention that too much of a good thing amounts to no-good. Or in words of R. Sharma’s character: “everthing in moderation, no extremes”.

"What is the ultimate question of life, the Universe and everything...?" The line is from the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy. One of the DVD's that Monkey brought along - just a lovely movie. Déjà Vu is a good old story with a new, scientific twist - nice.

The pool is closed for this week due to the major cleaning. Couldn't they have done it the next wk, when I'm of to India :(

A while back, I conducted a little, informal survey with the class I find the most difficult to teach. Difficult as in the subject material is one that nobody likes, me included, and the students are rather 'lively'. The common desire expressed was less lecture slides and more tute work. I have to speak slower and clearer as they (shockingly many commented on this) have difficulty understanding me. As many know, I am not surprised by this. Also, I should not give out any kind of encouragement to do the work, as this easily can be mistaken as nagging/scolding. Steve Goschick's "to care is not to care" is employed to the max. The good news is that since then I'm putting the suggestions into practice, some more then others, and the students have responded really well.

To answer the question Luka posted: the difference is in the EQ not the IQ. In my opinion, the lack of care for the study on students' part is down to the two main things:
a) most of students don't end up doing the course that is their first choice
b) students' place at the Ploy is largely subsidised. So the aim is to get as many students to pass with better marks that are nicely distributed - the bell curve obsession - which improves the Poly's looks. The better the Poly looks the more funding it gets.
Mix into this 'saving face' concept and it's not surprising why the main topic at the end of the semester meetings is the justification of failures -> i.e. the message that is being send down, albeit implicitly (for the most part) is 'don't fail anybody'. BTW, the more experienced local lecturers here are 'too experienced’. (Note: just IMO)

I was bragging about the all around efficiency as one of the things that got me really impressed. Well the running of the meetings might be just the exception that proves that rule. On many occasions, it is as though they try to invent the purpose of the meeting because they have a meeting pre-scheduled. If you think that it should be the other way around, then that makes the two of us.

Two weekends ago I spend 3 hours scrubbing the floor (poured full container of Jiff on it), and then Monkey spend an hour the next day mopping it as rinsing the floor with 5-10 buckets of water didn’t clear out the Jiff trails. And then last weekend I had a guy come over with the industrial polishing machine and the water blaster. The professional cleaners were cleaning the lobbies in the buildings and pathways around them, so I got them to pay a visit to my apartment as well. For the next few weeks, the floor is clean!

This is the 9th week of the semester. It is a common test week, which means there are no classes scheduled. The two weeks prior to that students were working on the assignment during the classes for one (less likeable) module, i.e. no teaching. This was a well deserved welcome to the ‘paid holiday’ period as the two weeks prior that period, during the week 5 and 6, I actually had quite a bit of work to do. Along the usual teaching responsibilities I had to finalise all the teaching materials, as I was made responsible for coming up with all the content for those two weeks. The usual underestimation of the time required to do the job did not surprise me a one bit, but how badly I underestimated it, did -> slept fewer than 4h per night during the period.

Going out on Wednesday night and missing your 9-11 class the next morning is definitely a bad thing. Having students who don’t report it to no one is great. I guess all that lenience I give them, came in handy. I did report it myself to the module leader, emailed an apology to students, a bit formal one, and then spoke to them. They found it funny that a teacher ‘over-slept’ because the alarm didn’t go off, even though it was set in what appeared to be proper way: the little knob was lifted, and the time set correctly – I am thinking that I did not lift the knob all the way. Well anyhow, all that is long gone, and I can say I was happy with the way I reacted in the situation, or should I say with the lack of my reaction… Oh well, shit happens…! ("A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous." Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) - work in progress, but I'm getting there.)

Dude, where the #*&% are my noodles...? I ordered a fish balls noddles... and got a soup w/ few balls swimming in there w/ noodles nowhere to be found. Broken English meets broken English, in this case the two negatives did not cancel each other, they compounded. This happened during the two weeks I mentioned above, when workload was heavy. Thus, I had no time to go back and complain to the Uncle. Guess, had I had time for it that would have been interesting.

Teacher

Yep, that's me, that's now my occupation. Even though I've been doing it since 2002 at the Department of IS, I never looked at it as work, as an occupation. It was something that I was doing until I found a 'real job'. And to me, all that teaching stuff never really felt like work and it has been something I really enjoy (exception: administrative things related to marks).

So it seems that it could happen to me like to Mujo (pronounced Muyo, the main character of jokes that are on Bosnian account) when he first married Fata. He marred her only temporarily until a better one came along... they're still married (happily, I hope).

Now that I have a full time teaching job as an International Fellow at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic's ICT school, I started referring to it as work.

It's funny, what makes it work now and not then, I don't know. Actually, so far I haven't done anything that's related to any kind of work. These days, my brief office time is mostly spend on-line, catching up with people and the sports news... working hard.

The next semester, and the first day of my teaching, starts on the 16th of October. I'll be teaching two subjects: 'Object Oriented Programming' and 'Object Oriented Analysis and Design'. I fully expect to be enjoying it as I always have, till then I'll just have to continue with my 'hard work'...

From NgeeAnn campus

Small Planet, Big Problems

It was Earth Day a week ago... - a nice little initiative for me to get a new post up on this blog after a while. On a similar occurrence of lateness, I'd usually say better late than never, but in this case - Earth Day - I think every day seems late, thus one can't be late...

The bleak outlook comes from looking at the problems outlined in this nice-must-see little presentation titled Miniature Earth.

Also, today I watched the movie from 1980, The Secret of Nikola Tesla given to me back when I first started work as a teacher at NP by an ex colleague, Weelian. It's disturbing to see that 100 years ago Tesla was concerned about pollution and the lack of sustainability of then current - and sadly still current - energy resources. He also seem to had been dreaming of transmitting 'everything' - what we call today (wireless) Internet -, and wireless power transmission - what we're still dreaming of...!

Ps: Credit to Murray for pointing to the presentation.

- Bill Clinton's promo for his foundation is another nice presentation on issues.

- Also my posts on water and e-cars.

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Contract Negotiation

Take it or leave it - that's the summary.

I have no negotiating power; my picture is not on the school posters ala fellow Ozzy's (guess who), and I want to stick around for a while more.

Within the first month here, I found out that some internationals with less (teaching) experience and less (university) qualifications have TWICE as much as I do.

So naturally, a while after they extended an offer to renew the contract - which was back in Feb, just before the Thailand trip - I went to my Reporting Officer with request that was pitched as:

1. want more involvement, and thus
   
2. want better renumeration terms.

Someone did say 'watch what u wish for'... as only half of my wish got true.

The quick response from RO was that the school has no Visiting Lecturer openings. The VL is the contractual scheme that I would have to shift to in order to get more money. As this is black and white world - not even a shade of a gray; not to talk bout a rainbow - my current IF-I-was-a-teacher scheme is what it is. In order words the policies are written in stone. And since I am not a PR, the story ends there.

Sure enough, even though everyone told me so, to make sure I had to check that 'yes' the story really does end there, and so I took it to HR... After the informal chat, the process went to the e-mail:

06/11/2007 05:58 PM
Subject: IF new contract

Hi SY,

As discussed earlier:

Thank you for the opportunity to extend my stay at Ngee Ann.

Though, it came to my attention that my experience and qualifications are more aligned with the requirements of a VL position. And as you know, the actual daily responsibilities between a VL and IF are virtually the same, whereas a difference in contract remuneration can be very significant. Taking this into consideration, I am sure, it was no surprise to you that I have acquired about the possible VL openings.

Unfortunately, as there are no current VL positions that I could be considered for, I would like to have the terms of my new contract re-evaluated.

Moreover, I would like to draw to your attention to the couple of things that are making the news. In addition to a standard yearly inflation rate, this year there will be the increase in GST. Also, the banks have proposed the increase of the fees charged to retailers for NETS services - it is feared that this will lead to a further increase of the prices. In light of this, I don't just feel as though I am currently being underpaid, I feel as though I am taking the pay cut for the new contract.

Even though I get the positive feedback from students and colleagues, and I like teaching at Ngee Ann, I would appreciate if you can explore possible avenues that could make me feel more appreciated.

Sincerely,

Z
-----------------------------------
- upon arriving back from Vietnam I had the letter on the desk stating: "We have considered your request very carefully but regret that we are unable to revise our offer. Hence, our offer dated 11 May 07 remains unchanged."

- the day after seeing the latter, I had the meeting with HR Manager.
-----------------------------------
06/27/2007 10:15 AM
Subject: Air Passage

Good Morning Z

We refer to your request for a return air passage (2-way airticket) under your current contract.

We are sorry to inform you that we are unable to accede to your request . However, approval has been granted to allow you to use your flight elgibility for SIN/Croatia/SIN, your original homecountry instead of SIN/MEL/SIN.

Do contact me if you need further clarfications on the above,

Regards
SY
------------------------------------
28/06/2007 09:07 AM
Subject
Re: Air Passage

Good Morning SY,

Thanks for your prompt reply, which - it will be a no surprise to you - I find disappointing, as:

• When flying to Europe/Australia from Singapore, the difference in air fare ticket price between one way and two way is within $300 range.
• Therefore, if Ngee Ann Poly was to reimburse the two return tickets, instead of the two one way tickets, the total extra cost incurred would probably not exceed $600 mark.
• Though I appreciate the opportunity to go and visit my family and friends in Croatia, that now comes at the expense of not being able to visit my imitate family back in Melbourne until October 08 (i.e year and a half since the last visit).

The extra cost that Ngee Ann would incur by paying $600 on top of the value of my expiring contact would:

• Counteract the 2% GST increase (i.e 2% of 30K is 600)
• Would represent, circa, $1500 overall increase of the contract package (i.e. the expense that I would have to pay to get a return ticket to Melbourne). Additionally, this could be viewed as the 5% increase of the current contract's value (i.e. 5% of 30K is 1500 - not taking into consideration the loss due to the GST)
• Moreover, it would show me that Ngee Ann Poly values their staff, and is willing to compromise in the wake of the unusual circumstance (i.e. postgraduate degree and subsequent 5 years of teaching at the well recongised university prior joining the Poly as an IF)
• Might help make one teacher happier, and I'm sure you are familiar with the saying that goes round here: happy teachers, happy students.

Also as discussed, I hope that it will be possible to have my 30yr old bed mattress with depleted support and stains all-over replaced.

After understanding circumstances of the organisational hierarchy and unavailability of the relevant VL openings, from my perspective, these are very humble things that I'm asking in return - on one side, whereas on the other - I feel like I am providing quality value though continuously dedicated effort of exemplifying teaching (where the first priority is the best interest of students) that is second to none, for a bargain price.

I will keep anticipating means to be found towards a compromise where things can be perceived as more 'fair' and a bit closer to a 'win win' situation.

Regards,

Z
------------------------------------
07/03/2007 11:36 AM
Subject
Re: Air Passage

Dear Z,

We spoke at length on the reasons for not adjusting the International Fellow package and appreciate your understanding on our position. As explained by SY, we are prepared to accede to allow you the use of your flight eligibility for SIN/CROATIA/SIN instead of SIN/MEL/SIN, although this is not our usual practice. You would also appreciate that there is a need for us to maintain internal equity when determining the remuneration package institution wide. We encourage you to consider the other positive aspects of our offer such as the 42 days of annual leave, our work environment, the training opportunities available and the excitement of nurturing our students. Please do let us have your decision by 9 July 2007, Monday.

I have spoken to my colleague, JL from the Estates Management Office with regard to your request for a change of your mattress. She would be in touch with you directly. Thanks.

CT
-----------------------------------

Hopefully I'll get SY to allow me to purchase a return tickets by paying for the difference between two-way and one way tickets on my own, as she did for my Melbourne visit. But I doubt it...!

Ps: not being fairly rewarded at work is, unsurprisingly, a common thing.

sicVitaEst...!

Unpaid Holiday

The paid holiday came to the end with the end of September 2008. Making it exactly two years since first arriving to Singapore to take on a full time post as a teacher..., and more importantly to travel around.

At the time when the teaching job came to an end, I was already a student again for a month, giving me something to do, and with it, the ever needed feeling of purpose. I was to successfully complete the three subjects during the one semester at NUS, and subsequently my way-overdue-degree. But it wasn't to be. I failed one subject - and since my home university gave me the strict condition to complete ALL the requirements for the degree by the end of the year, or lose it all - I lost it all. Beyond stupidity: Seven years of invested effort, time and money that went towards the degree got flashed down the toilet due to submitting one last assignment, for one last subject, one week too late; all thanks to my old companion, the procrastination. I failed miserably - or so I thought.

About half way through the semester I had some very positive job interviews with the IT consulting company, HC. I was expecting I'll start work in December, just after completing the NUS semester. Eventually, all that happened was that I wrote another letter trying to recapture their attention in order to get yet another interview. I failed. No interviews were to take place any more - or so I thought.

So there I was: degreeless, jobless, ...less, and considering the current economic situation, with no hope of finding an industry job any time soon. Though, luckily it took only few days for me to go from feeling sorry for my (lucky) ass to get back to best enjoy the situation that I was in. It was a conscious switch that took only seconds, but made a world of a difference to my attitude: I went from unemployed, to HAPPILY unemployed.

From then on, it was all about the fun times on the unpaid holiday...!

Annual leave/Visiting me

This is my first full time working arrangement, and so, the 1st time where I actually have annual leave. As it is probably the case for most employees in most organisation, I cannot take the days off just any time I feel like it - I need to apply for it.

As I am a teacher, my annual leave can be approved during the non-teaching periods. This contract allows me for 42 days of leave which the majority of I will use up on travels to neighbouring countries around Singapore (one of the main reasons for taking up this job).

This being said, for all those wishing to pay me a visit... well first of all you are very welcome, and as long as I have the apartment just for myself you can have a bed at my place anytime, including the breakfast every day (cereal :)

But if you are not just stopping by while passing though Singapore, and have flexibility in planning your visit then please refer to my calendar. Goes without saying that I'd prefer if you can come during the non-teaching period while I am in Singapore. And if you can join me on some trip, then that would be even sweeter...

birth-month shopping

After one year plus here, I get to taste some of the famous Singapore culture 1st hand; the shopping culture:

Save from losing/breaking stuff, I should be shopping-free for a while. This being the month I was born in, it felt kind of like receiving lots of prezos... - albeit, most from myself...

At the beginning of the month, with few of running colleagues from work, I went to the New Balance shop - the marathon running colleague has 40% discount during November. I am a new NB fan. At the shop they got us running on a treadmill to determine a correct shoe. I got two pairs and running shorts.

Few weeks later, for birthday I got the watch. Also got the new jeans that have been in the closet for couple of months, finally trimmed (my ass size/lag ration makes it impossible to get a new pants that fit 'out of a box').

As the phone died the in washing machine, last week I got Nokia E51 - awesome.

Then on the weekend, after a year plus since having initial idea, I got the Boston Birkenstok - perfect for flat footed teacher, also quicker at getting ready in the morning as no need for socks. To make the best of the shop wide 40% discount, I also got Teva sandals, swimming gaggols and two pairs of Mizuno running shorts. My Dad´s birthday is coming next month, so (at danger of ruining the surprise) I got him a pair of NB as well.

Getting a good use from all this goodies, will make it a happy year...!

Land of Rising Sun

Land of harmony and peace. Land of contradictions. Land of volcanoes, geysers, hot baths, mountains and forests... -> the New Zealand look-alike. Land of 3G (clamshell) mobiles - ONLY. Land of no money exchange, no acceptance of credit cards nor international ATM cards... n of course the land of sushiiii!

Pere said lick, suck do whatever necessary to be present at the wedding. My RO (Reporting Officer) said I was lucky, again. No, not lucky 'like that'; lucky when it comes to taking an annual leave at the time when other staff cannot (one of the benefits of being an IF (i was a) teacher). The lucky break came in the form of an e-Learning week. During the week students do not have to come to school, instead they do the work on-line, and so my RO kindly approved my trip (even though some rules had to be bend a bit - thanksPam).

And off I was for a week in Japan.

Pere lives in the place close to the small town, Taketa. In this area tourists, especially the ones that need a passport to get there are rather rare, hence the unavailability of things such as money exchange; and the place is small, thus no credit-cards. Fortunately for me, even though I was running late - as usual - I got some cash out and bought some yen at Spore airport; and also Pere agreed to take on yet another currency. By the way, though he was kidding about opening his own currency exchange business, Pere actually earns his rice by teaching English in different schools - some 15-20 of them - that are located in the area. My initial though was that after the wedding I'll go and travel around the island, Kyūshū, as the love birds would fly off for their honeymoon. Yep, that's what happens when one thinks, s/he (probably) needs to re-think it... The love birds postponed the honeymoon till August and Hiromi had to be back at work (library at one of those 15-20 schools) only few days after the wedding.

Thanks to these circumstances I got an opportunity to spend more time with Pere (once more, 'Thank You' to Hiromi for letting me spend time w/ her hubby during the 1st wk of their marriage - actually I felt quite uncomfortable bout this at the beginning - it just did not seem right; they had to reiterate to me number of times that it was life as usual for them, and the ceremony was more of a formality then anything else). And not only did I get to spend time with Pere, but instead of going around and doing the usual touristy things, I got to spend time with his in-laws. I got a chance to see (the sample of) 'the real' Japan.

I'll talk more about how great I think both, Pere's family and in-laws are some other time, here I'll just mention one of the in-laws, Muku. Muku is the 13 yr old dog that is adored for many things out of which none relates to dog-smarts. Pere's nick names for Muku range from psycho to 'professor'. Well, all this I found out after Mike - Pere's brother - and I decided to take Muku for a walk on the morning after the wedding. As we were walking the road that leads towards the top of the hill we ran into two white dogs standing on our path. Thinking we can pass by them w/o much trouble was quickly proven wrong as both the white dogs and Muku were very keen to get together. Not to sniff, kiss, or exchange regards in any way, but to kill each other. Muku, especially, was keen on clamming the alpha dog of the hill status. After managing to pull him away initially, the two white dogs caught up with us and the brawl started again. This time, as I was trying to protect Muku by pulling him away, my right leg found its way between him and his arch enemies so he stuck he's canines into my calf, upon which he copped a blow into the head from me - reflex. Thereupon, we ran back without stopping to the house. By that time my leg was rather bloody and the thing did not look pretty. Though as it wasn't hurting that much I knew it wasn't bad, but I was wondering if I needed an 'after a dog has bit you' injection. Unfortunately as Pere and Hiromi were not around, we needed a local doctor's skillful use of Japanese-English dictionary to explain to me that the dog was just recently vaccinated and that I was safe. While at the doctor's they cleaned the wound (including some shaving) and proscribed me little bag full of medicine (antibiotics, pain killers and killers of pain killers' side effects; I only used the 1st one).

Luckily, after the bleeding stopped, there was nothing impeding my walking and I was good to go. The next day Pere's patents and brother left for their Japan trip, after we dropped them at the train station we went on to check out the Monkey Mountain and a bit of Oita. Wednesday was the active day when we covered quite some walking distance on an uneven terrain. First, early in the morning, as part of Muku's walk, we climbed the hill near Hiromi's place (now I was bit very as he would run by my leg, especially the bandaged one, though he acted as though nothing happened - asshole :). Following this, we visited ruins of the Samurai's castle at the top of the hill near Pere's house. We took Pere's neighbor's dog along for this walk. After lunch, at Hiromi's, we jumped in the car, Muku accompanying us again, and drove to Mt Kanji (or something rather similar - ?) where we climbed 2 peaks. Shortly after the dinner when we got back to Pere's place we crashed at the floor, pleasantly exhausted and fallen a sleep straight away - at least me, that is.

12+ hours later we woke up. And following omelet, salami and cheese brunch we hit the road - no dogs this time - for near by prefecture in search of the beach. After driving south for couple of hours Pere wasn't sure at which intersection to turn east in order to get to the beach that he had in mind. And as he couldn't contract Hiromi for directions he turned left towards Tomi Peninsula. After a while on the road towards the Pacific coast Pere planted a seed for pleasant surprise to himself; he said that there's (probably) nothing worth driving-for over there. What we found over there was the great little bay with no one around; clear, and very refreshing water; and rocks for easy climbing.

After two days at Tomi Peninsula it was up to me to choose the activity for my last day. The choice was between touristy thing in Fukuoka or rice planting w/ Hiromi's family.

From Japan, 5-13May07