Communication Skills for Teachers at NIE
I taught this course as part of various pre-service programmes at NIE, and was also the Course Chair/Coordinator for the DipEd version of the course. I curated online resources on Diigo for the use of all tutors on all versions of the course, and also created this Google Site for my student-teachers to learn about the basics of pronunciation.
I was the Associate Faculty for this course in its final year before it was retired. This Google Site helped students learn this rather challenging subject both in and out of class.
This is a compulsory course for first-year science undergraduates. I built this site so that my students could continue their learning out of class. I also hoped to cultivate their interest in science communication.
This is a blended course that I also developed. I am currently the Associate Faculty of this course and continue to improve the course with Angela Faye Oon, which teaches the course with me. In a different form, this course is also compulsory for full-time students at UniSIM College, as an ePortfolio is one of their graduation requirements.
This is an in-service course that is part of the Advanced Diploma in Primary English Language Education programme. It was a great privilege for me to teach this, as assessment courses for teachers are rather rare.
I have now taught this, in different forms, at NAFA, NIE, NUS, NTU and UniSIM. This breadth of experience has raised my awareness of the diversity of student needs in this area. It has also made me more reflective of my own academic writing practices.
Other education-related projects
This was a test development project for the Ministry of Education, Singapore. The test aims to assess the English language proficiency of applicants to the pre-service teacher education programmes at the National Institute of Education.
[iOS version] I was very fortunate to have worked on the development of this mobile app for learning Standard Singapore English pronunciation, as part of a team that also included my colleagues Dr Mary Ellis, A/P Low Ee Ling and the staff of NIE Centre for eLearning.
Dr Mary Ellis and I initially conceived of this idea as a way for pre-service teachers to work on their pronunciation at their convenience, as well as in class. We are gratified to find that since its launch, it has also been used by school teachers with their pupils. Such mobile apps can therefore not only enable self-directed learning on the part of educators, but also help them help their learners enable it.
I am not a software developer and was involved mainly in the content. However, working on this project gave me great insights into the development cycle of mobile apps. M-learning (mobile learning) is often considered a 21st century 'game changer' in education, and lends itself to the learning of digital literacies. The experience also forced me to consider issues of UI (user interface) design, something that I had not consciously thought about previously. This has made me more digitally literate and a better designer of learning resources, and hopefully paves the way for more mobile app development work in my future.
I created this in 2012 while I was still a full-time lecturer at NIE. We were required to submit a print portfolio for appraisal purposes.