My view of British education (1)

I am having a discussion with a friend who are studying in US. Herewith some of the views I generated in the discussion:

I did my Master in Multimedia (e-Learning Technologies) with FCM, MMU. I was fortunate to learn from Dr Tengku Shahrom, an e-learning pioneer in Malaysia who obtained his PhD in 90s from University of Georgia. Through him, I was exposed to US learning models, instructional systems design models, etc. I also gained exposure to epistemology, behaviourism, cognitive theories, Bloom’s taxonomy and constructivist theories.

However, when I arrived in the UK, I was surprised that most of the British academics around me—including some European leading professors who are not aware of US learning models. In my views, they just don’t bother to know about those models. Some even see those models as “factory-like” or instant production lines that generate graduates. What I realise is that the fundamental British education aim to nurture “ladies and gentlemen”, instead of people who can get a job after graduation. Of course, a lot of universities here are adopting “factory-like” production of graduation. But these universities are basically newly formed institutions which were upgraded from technical colleges.

Another thing that I think unique in England (Scotland and Northern Ireland have different systems) is that teachers are people who possess at least a Bachelor degree plus a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). Without PGCE, one cannot teach in school. This is different to where I work in Malaysia—Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, where I am training school teachers at Bachelor degree levels. In other words, those who intend to a teacher must already be a practitioner or qualified to be a practitioner in the field of study, e.g. psychologist, mathematician, statistician, engineer, biologist. And normally, after a person graduated from a degree programme, he or she will be expected (not respected) to be a professional. When everybody is a professional, then there is nothing to wow about to be a psychologist or engineer. If one professional would like to become a teacher, then PGCE is the key to the world of teaching. Also, unlike Malaysia, secondary Maths teachers can only be secondary Maths teachers. Maths teachers are not allowed to teach other subjects, including primary Maths, even though they themselves or other may think or they can.

In PGCE programme, trainee teachers learn learning theories and practices which are tailored to their specific subject area. Therefore, a Geography teacher is not learning how Maths could be taught in schools, and vice versa. The advantage of this is that teachers, researchers and policy makers could play only their roles and execute their responsibilities well without bother other fields of study. Ideally, academics conduct research related to educational issues and disseminate findings in conferences, seminars, lectures, books and journals; policy-makers that fund the research make educational policies based on the findings; school teachers instruct according to strategies, syllabus or programmes structured under those policies, and the loop goes on and on. Ideally, if everything works as it should be, the quality of education will be forever improving. Of course this is oversimplified scenario, but in a nutshell, this is how it works.

Because of the above mentioned conditions, it is dangerous to jump to the conclusion and say “US is currently adapting and learning from European/ UK education models”. The following issues need to be explored in advance:
- Which model in which subject matter are you referring to?
- Which era are you referring to?
- Which level of education are you referring to?
- Which part of Europe are you talking about?
- Whose model are you referring to?
- Why do they refer to?
- How do the adaptation and learning happen?

Wee-hoe Tan : 11 Dec 2009 14:38 |  Tags: Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The Nature of Dissapointment (tentative English version)

Follow-up to 失望的本质 (The Nature of Disappointment) from Wee Hoe's blog

This is a tentative English version

Wee-hoe Tan : 09 Dec 2009 01:54 |  Tags: Philosophy |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

失望的本质 (The Nature of Disappointment)

人会失望，每每是因为有期望。有人认为有期望是因为在乎，但是为何在乎？

我认为，期望的前提是个人的价值观。有自己的一套价值观，是因为自己对身边的事物定下价值。

这价值可以是具体的如金钱、时间、人力，也可以是无形的如心思、心血、青春等等。

人们透过累积的知识和经验，建立了属于自己的一套价值观。有人的价值观是明确的、稳定的；有的则模糊或随时都在改变。

价值观明确且稳定的人对于周遭的事物该如何评价、为何评价--什么比什么重要、什么该做和不该做、什么可做和不可做，心里有个谱。这一切如果表现在行为上就成了稳重、有独立思想和主见。这样子的个人价值观如果和该人所处的社会的价值观协调，这个人就入流、识时务，甚至可以主导所处的社会的发展。相反的，就会被所处的社会标签为异类、不入流，甚至可能被孤立、边缘化、批斗或打压。不过有时这种人反而因不按牌理出牌而逆流而上，表现异常地出色。所谓的牌理，就是所处社会的价值观所定下的明文与不明文条规。至于明文是否等同于明智，这是另一个层次的价值观课题了。

价值观模糊或不稳定的人在应对周遭的事物时经常会举棋不定甚至在做了决定后后悔、反悔、抵赖。这一切如果表现在行为上就成了幼稚、不成熟、没主见或吊儿郎当。如此的个人价值观如果和该人所处的社会的价值观“协调”，这个人可能误导他人，甚至把所处的社会的引向纷乱、争执不断的情况当中。不过，如果这人与所处的社会的价值观不协调，就可能因其不稳定的表现与行为而经常让人无所适从，并导致被排挤、放弃。

了解了个人价值观这个前提，将有助于剖析人们做抉择时的依据。期望的产生是抉择的结果，而之所以在乎是因为主观或客观地对期望投入了价值。当有了一定程度的投入，期望的等级就会提升进而把事物的结果看成的是成果的实现与否。如果达到了成果，就会感觉有成就，不然就会失望。另一方面，即使选择不投入价值，人们还是会有所期待的，但是其期待的是结果而非成果。如果结果符合所期待的，那就是侥幸；不符合所期待的，也会有失望，只不过这种失望和之前所提到的失望是有等级上的不同的。

我依个人浅薄的知识、经历与生活经验，整合了如图一所示的流程，并希望籍此抛砖引玉，欢迎各位提出有建设性的意见。或许，诸位可用这流程图来尝试评估自己的意见是否有建设性。

[English version will be available soon]

Wee-hoe Tan : 05 Dec 2009 15:44 |  Tags: Philosophy |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Trackbacks (1) |  Report a problem

Curiosity: The most important quality of a good researcher

‘I wish I had a chance to learn from me when I was like you.’ This is what I said inside my heart after today’s session.

I arrived at the venue about 12:30 p.m. A session was just ended and it was time to have lunch. I sensed the weird ambience in the hall, I knew something has gone wrong. Over the lunch, T came and talked to me, depicting the situation. He proposed his ideas as a form of remedy but I felt the worry and pressure he had.

Lunch time’s over, we gathered inside the hall again. We changed agenda, incorporating more hands-on, as requested by the teachers. I shared my ideas with three mentors on how we could help the kids to work out their ideas. I wasn’t sure how much the mentors could capture in a minute or two, but I highlighted the three levels of WHY approach (thanks to Prof Peter Woods for teaching me that in MMU, Malaysia).

I particularly enjoyed sharing my research experience with the group which intended to do research in virtual learning environment (VLE). It’s really amazing to discover how mature they were when they attempted to tackle my three levels of WHY attack. I tried to play the role as a critical evaluator but at the same time trying not to demolish their aspiration in carrying out their research. So balancing both roles as a evaluator and a motivator was rather challenging to me. But when I saw ‘sparkling in the eyes’ of those kids, I knew I succeeded.

When I had my session, I managed to see the 'flame of research' among the participants—both the teachers and the students. Although it was only a 9-minute session, I tried my best to share as much as I could with them. Knowledge is really meant to be shared! Mission accomplished.

A friend suggested ‘Sophie’s World’ to me two days ago. I started to read it and got myself addicted. One thing I learn at the beginning of this book is about the most important quality of a good philosopher: curiosity. I personally think this is also the most important quality for a good researcher. Innate curiosity is the ultimate motivator for a researcher to drive at full force into research conduct. It is better than financial support, material incentives, fame, power, etc. The problem is how to gain this innate curiosity. Since it is innate, it is with us all the time, so regaining would be a more suitable approach. Young researchers have relatively ‘strong’ curiosity. It is a good attribute to possess as a teenager, as compared to adult man like me, whom constantly need to polish my sense of curiosity and magnify it seriously. That’s why I think the young researchers I met today are really lucky to have learned or at least gained early exposure in the world of research.

I wish my 9-minute students all the best in their research journey, perhaps life-long research journey.

Wee-hoe Tan : 06 Nov 2009 18:26 |  Tags: Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A session on Ancient Greek Philosophy

Quite a lot of friends wonder what I learn in the philosophical studies course. Below is the Week 5 session of my study in the course, just to share with you all.

I always try to reach the classroom say half an hour before the session begins. This allows me to stay away temporarily from my physical research work, though the mental research is working all the time. This 30-minute pre-session period also gives me a space to concentrate on reading what I should have read before each session.

Today, before the lesson started, I read Plato's The Republic. His writing inspired me to adapt the conditions of doing a PhD to the conditions of being a philosopher ruler:

"They (PhD candidates) must be tested both in pleasure and pain, to ensure that their determination [original word: loyalty] remained unshaken by pain or fear or any other vicissitude (变迁; 兴败; 盛衰); those who failed the test were to be rejected, but those who emerged unscathed, like gold tried in the fire, were to be established as Doctors of Philosophy (Ph. D, meaning teacher of philosophy)[original word: rulers] and given honours and rewards both in life and after death."

Besides, I captured the following sentence because I think this could be an alert bell that I should bear in mind when reporting the findings of my studies:

"...we were afraid of stirring up the problems we are now facing, and our argument evaded the issue and tried to get by without being seen."

The 5-minute time before the session starts is always a good time to socialise with course mates. This is really a valuable experience to me as a foreigner, even if I do nothing but being in the ambience of socialising. Like one of the course mate said today, 'British do not realise how lucky they are!' The opportunity of taking a 'normal' open study programme in itself is something that British should appreciate, I think. Attending evening classes no doubt is quite tiring to most of the people, especially those who have just finished work in places outside Coventry area. However to have a philosophical studies programme like this running in Malaysia and attended by people from various walks of life would be a miracle for at least 10 to 20 years.

The session normally starts about 7:05pm, when most if not all of the students arrived, rain or shine. Mr Michael Vaughan, the tutor of the course usually starts the class by distributing reading materials for upcoming session. This evening, he began the session with Democritus and his atomic theory. Next he talked about Plato and The Republic, which was the highlight of today's session. I enjoyed being in the conditions where my course mates project their views on ancient Greek Philosophers' propositions or writings while listening to Michael's talk. I personally find their views more interesting and sometimes I voiced out my views as well. However, my multi-tasking nature always directs me to relate what I heard or learned with my research topic--manifestation of deep learner, perhaps. In today's session, I kind of semi-detached myself from others mentally, and immersed into the following thinking:

Also, I used the analogy of Plato in The Republic to generate assumptions for my research:

Plato's proposition: Not everybody needs to be a philosopher, but a ruler should also be a philosopher, hence philosopher ruler.

My proposition: Not every teacher needs to be a game player, but a game-based learning teacher should also be  game player, hence game-player teacher.

One of the interesting point of today's discussion that I captured is potentiality vs actuality. Michael used an analogy of pigeon's egg to elaborate the difference between these two concepts. I found it interesting because my supervisors and I were discussing about the nature of potential in game (which led to an important finding of my study, (see 'Simulation vs Simulation Game'). Now I think I should include the concept of 'actuality' into my meta-discussion chapter of PhD thesis.  

After a short break at 8:00pm, we started small-group discussion, and I shared what I thought about idea-thing-image continuum, and the Chinese interpretation of The Republic (理想国) with two course mates. The discussion stopped when Michael asked us what we intend to do for the assessment. I said I would like to make a presentation on the impact of the study of ancient Greek philosophers towards my doctoral research design.

The discussion with course mates continued even after the class ended. And this makes the discussion always be the best part of a session.

Wee-hoe Tan : 04 Nov 2009 23:46 |  Tags: Research |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Simulation vs Simulation game

This morning when I played Sword Play (Kendo) on Nintendo Wii, I told my housemate Steve that I am doing exercise. Steve who is a multi-martial artist said, ‘Nah, let’s go to the gym or join Jeet-kune do training later.’

Instead of responding to him, I started to demonstrate that I fought the opponent seriously, as if I was fighting a real person. I did that by holding the Wii Remote Control like holding a shinai (bamboo sword), I entred the state of zanshin (the state of total awareness) by focusing on the action and reaction of my virtual opponent, hence a simulated Kendo competition. I won this first round. In the second round, I hold the controller using one hand, sit on the couch, fighting by merely twisting my wrist in a relaxing posture. I lose the second round. After that, I started to explain to Steve the different between simulation and simulation games, a finding of my second pilot study of PhD research.

‘I can join you to learn Jeet-kune do but do not take it seriously and learn nothing from it; however, if I practice Kendo seriously using Wii, I can actually learn something. So, to learn martial art effectively, it depends on the degree of seriousness I hold when I practice,’ I explained. ‘Even when you practice martial art in probably training place, putting on proper attire, armors or guards, if you do not take the training seriously, you could be playing a simulation game, just like what I did in second round. But if you see the training as a simulation of a real combat scenario, in which you need to fight to survive or to win, then you are practicing martial art, regardless of the nature of your opponent--a real human being or a virtual character. In other words, you could learn nothing in Jeet-june do training session if you are not serious in the training; while I can learn the same martial art in virtual training environment if I take the virtual training seriously. Therefore, it is the mindset of a player or learner that matters, when comes to practicing martial art effectively,’ I elaborated.

In conclusion, it is the mindset of learners that determines whether a game is a simulation or a simulation game. Hence, arguing whether we should delineate between serious games and leisure game is rather meaningless. The focus of game-based learning should be nurturing game learners to be able to take or see games seriously—the key is the learner and not the media. 

Virtual Kendo playing in action.

Wee-hoe Tan : 31 Oct 2009 13:19 |  Tags: Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Less than 24–hour Vienna trip

15 Oct (Morning)

I am on my way to Vienna from Graz. As I plan to depart from Vienna to Graz Airport tomorrow, I said bye to Graz, the City of Design. I bought an one-way train ticket at 33.70 Euro. Taking a train instead of coach/bus was highly recommended by the host of the Workshop of 80 Days Consortium. He said the railway journey is a UNESCO World Heritage: the first railway on the mountain. This railway reminds me of the tour in Switzerland last year in April. I can still vividly remember the fascinating sceneries of Switzerland, and what I am seeing now is very much alike: mountains with snow, authentic countryside with fairly-tale like houses. Even the train ticket is very similar—with German that I cannot understand.

Going to Vienna is like a dream. Like the experience to Geneva last year, I never imagined that I would have the chance to visit Vienna before I landed on the UK in March 2008. In my old house in Malaysia, I kept a series of calendar-posters which depict European sceneries when I was a teenager. I always dreamt of visiting these places since then. And now I am realizing my dreams, one after another.

Due to the nature of this journey, which is meant for attending a conference and a workshop, I travel alone. Language was a barrier but English plus body language keep me at ease. The best thing about being alone is the maximum flexibility. I have to admit that I am tagged as a well-planned person, but not when I am having holidays. Like now, I don’t know where am I going and what will I do when I reach Vienna later. The good thing about flexible is that when I hungry I eat; when I feel like taking photo, I take photos; when I discover a museum that I feel like visiting, I visit, etc. To be frank, it is not easy to be flexible—I need at least a healthy body + sufficient financial capability to be flexible. And I am really grateful that I have both at this moment.

I am not a food-fancier but in Graz, I was fortunate to taste all kinds of authentic Styrian food: typical food of Austrian students in the FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Science; Mid-range/ splurge food at Hotel Daniel, Hotel Das Weitzer and SchloBBerg-Restaurant (at the Clock Tower). To balance the feeling of being a humble student, I had Doner Kebap when there is no arranged meal.

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16 Oct (Early morning)

I am on my way back to the UK. The train passed through Alps again, and I am trying to record my memory in Vienna.

Vienna is a beautiful city, no doubt though the weather didn’t seem to be very friendly.

There were combinations of snow, rain plus strong wind throughout my stay. Here I have problems to communicate, most of the people I asked for direction didn’t know English. What’s worse, I thought I understood German! Because of this, I was looking for the Wombat Hostel under rain with my luggage for one hour, and the actual walking distance should be 15 minutes.

As I knew I have only one day, the least I can do is to visit a museum and watch a concert or performance, therefore I made my visit relaxing. After analysing the transportation network in Vienna—interconnected tram, train and underground networks, I started my adventure by going to the Parliament Building. I met an Australian who lost her camera after she visited some of the famous tourism spots. She bought a new camera to re-take photos in Vienna. We felt good to meet people who can understand English, and helped each other to take photos in turns.

The rain got heavier, I ran to the National Library of Austria which was part of the Imperial Palace. I visited the museum inside the palace which holds three types of exhibits: musical instruments, weapons, and the ruins of Ephesos. Next, I visited the Natural History Museum. I was impressed by the magnificent collections of minerals in this museum. Also, I saw the Venus of Willendoft, the earliest known human sculpture.

In the evening, I watched a concert-like performance at 1, Beethovenplatz. The performance featured the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Johann Strauss. It was designed for tourists, thus it combined talk-show, concerto, opera, ballet and symphony orchestra. The acoustic was great and if I am not mistaken, this concert hall was used for performances dedicated to the imperial family.

So I did manage to accomplish what I wanted to do without proper planning and gained a happy and interesting experience.

Wee-hoe Tan : 16 Oct 2009 13:39 |  Tags: Travel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Coco before Chanel

Writing about web page http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/events/film/coco-before-chanel

I watched the film ‘Coco before Chanel’. I am inspired by Coco’s bravery in penetrating the existing fashion world with her own style. But then she based her design on her understanding of philosophy. She used fashion as an arena to project her philosophical thinking—simplicity. Herewith her saying: “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance”. Her principle of design is: simple, comfortable and revealing.

Like clothing, learning should be simple, comfortable and revealing. It should be simple because learning process is a means to acquire knowledge and skills pragmatically, therefore the focus should be applicability of the learning outcome, not the learning process itself—leave it to learning theorists to think about and deal with the process.

Learning should be comfortable before the effectiveness and efficiency could be at its optimum level. Proves are needed to justify this claim though.

Learning should also be revealing. Learning should not be seen as an end itself; instead the completion of one learning should mark the beginning of another if not several, hence the idea of revealing more potential of learning area and opportunities.

Wee-hoe Tan : 23 Aug 2009 10:53 |  Tags: Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Mid–doctorate doldrums? Or permanent head damage?

September 2009 will be the 18^th month of my doctoral research study—where I am going to enter the so-called mid-doctorate doldrums.

For the past few days, as I need to define and redefine all the key concepts and issues associated with my research question, I relearn epistemology, which is aka theory of knowledge (TOK). To avoid being bombarded by tones of philosophical jargons, I chose the text book written for IB Diploma students as the key reading text. The author, Lagemaat used the following analogy to explain how we could examine whether our beliefs are reasonable or not:

“…our position is like that of a sailor who has to rebuild his ship while still at sea. If he dismantles the ship completely and tries to rebuild it from scratch, he will drown. His only option is to rebuild it piece by piece.”

In the analogy, Lagemaat used ship to represent the existing beliefs we hold and rebuilding is equivalent to reconstructing our beliefs. To me this analogy is also suitable for social scientists who has to refine their research design or even redesign the whole research while being in the mid-doctorate journey. If they discount the work done completely and try to restart it from scratch, they will fail to finish on time. Their only option is to refine it phase by phase.

To date, I have recorded 10 major and minor changes made upon my research design. Coping with the changes is really challenging if not exhausting, and such changes must be done to justify the research progress and the work done. Many days and nights of effort were put into this task, but the most crucial element is the occurrence of the “blink” moment (see Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: The power of thinking without thinking). It doesn’t matter how much time I spent on thinking or writing, it is the quality of output that matters. When the “blink” moment occurs, I need to capture the golden chance and have my ideas recorded—through voice recorder, mobile phone, sms, parking tickets, tissue papers, etc. I have quite a lot of text messages which I sent to myself; I recorded a lot of my voice using think aloud methods; I have a lot of Post-it notes on my desk; I carry my voice recorder along most of the time; I will stop doing whatever I am doing to capture those moments. Even when I am driving, I will stop the car and jot down some notes. I know and people around me know that I am passionate about doing research. Is this the symptom of mid-doctorate doldrums? Or is it the sign of permanent head damage (PhD)? I am not sure, and please don’t tell me the answer unless you heard that I have completed my PhD. Thank you in advance.

Indeed, doing PhD is tiring especially when it becomes the core mission of life. A lot people advice me not to get myself burnt-out, of course I won’t. Else I won’t have time writing this blog, and I do realise the danger of being burnt-out. My current strategy is to finish it asap—before the process burns me out. Thanks to my undergrad lecturers and ex-bosses in Malaysia, they have me well-trained. To them, this is really nothing.

Anyway, I do reward myself once awhile. I include activities like travelling with friends, travelling alone, watching movies, listening to music, etc into my daily living. My next reward is to visit my family and friends in Malaysia in September. After that, I will start to learn French and Ancient Philosophy in autumn term.

Wee-hoe Tan : 14 Aug 2009 22:34 |  Tags: Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

写论文杂记

近来的日子都在写论文—文献评论和研究方法论。由于选择了个人化的叙述写法，个人的情绪随着对研究的热忱，对学问的敬畏和对难题的懊恼而起伏不定。最近两次和在做翻译学研究的同修谈论写论文的心得，不自觉地受了她所属的艺术与人文系的影响。身为社会科学系的研究员，我经常处于自然科学和艺术与人文两极之间的灰色地带。尤其是我较倾向于定性法研究，这在本质上与艺术与人文的研究方法相似。

实际上，我的身份是挺尴尬的，而这尴尬的身份常常令我难以作文。我的学术背景混杂，求学的大学和执教的大学加起来有五家有余，且它们的本质和作业形式都很不一样。我本科念了创意多媒体，主修电影与动画，这乃是媒体、艺术和资讯与通讯科技混合学位。念多媒体硕士，专攻电子教学时，接触到浩瀚的教育学，并把所学到的知识与技术应用到在我执教的吉隆坡大学里—号称马来西亚第一所的技术大学。后来有机会教南澳大学在马来西亚泰莱学院的双联课程，我接触了较人性化的大众传媒学。辗转去了苏丹伊德里斯教育大学的艺术与音乐系，见识到艺术家与艺术教育家颇另类的教学与研究方法。到了华威教育学院念博，除了面对文化冲击，还得接受深度的自我思想探索考验。过去一直用在生活和职场上的各种即战武器（包括暗器，写作用的）突然变得无用武之地了。原来被迫求生求存而求胜、求功名、求利益的日子，竟然不复存在了。这对在来到英国前，脚底下踩着成千上万个竞争者的我来说是不可思议的。在学风优良、研究风气鼎盛的氛围里，我尝到了获取智慧的甜果，自由地在研究的宇宙翱翔。我不再须要以如‘燕雀安知鸿鹄之志哉’的话语来自怜（自恋？）自叹。

今年六月中，我自觉地认为是真正开始写博士论文了。导师建议由研究方法论开始，然后引用我从去年9月到现今所写过、发表过的文章，并反思和自反我研究路上的反思与结论。听起来感觉很不错，写起来可痛苦难当，进度比蜗牛还慢！另一方面，我发出去的问卷音讯全无，希望是因为暑假的原因吧！但愿入秋后可以得到积极的回应。

很期待我写好的论文。在各路英雄/英雌的拔刀相助下，我有信心在限期内让她降世。加油！！

Wee-hoe Tan : 28 Jul 2009 20:09 |  Tags: Research |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem