Learning beyond a classroom

Learning beyond a textbook and classroom—As a teacher, I teach beyond the textbooks. Since I first started my teaching career, I have put tremendous efforts to continuously improve my teaching method. I have taken great pains to ensure that students understand what is being taught. I always go the extra mile to garner interest from the students on the subject being taught. My approach in teaching has always been “hands-on”. I spend a great deal of time with the students during laboratory classes to explain and demonstrate the right techniques in carrying out experiments. I also believe that students should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development. This would make learning more engaging and relevant and allows them to appreciate the wider perspective as well as nurture their creativity. I have found that taking the students out to the real world immensely enhanced their understanding of the course. I put a lot of effort to arrange for factory visit for the students or conducting a final year research project in the factory to give them useful practical knowledge.

Bring the laboratory & factory to the classroom—Sometimes it is not possible to arrange for a factory visit either because of the big number of students or the restriction by the factory (some factories only allow visitors to visit the laboratory but not the production area). Some of the courses I teach have no laboratory component but sometimes it is necessary to show the students certain techniques to carry out some experiments. To overcome these problems, I set up experiments in the laboratory, take pictures or videos of the experiment and show them in the lecture. I go to the factory to take pictures and videos (with prior permission) – these are edited, added with narration and presented in my lecture.