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- Newsgroups: soc.culture.singapore
- Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!newsserver.jvnc.net!newsserver.technet.sg!nuscc!nusunix2.nus.sg!eng10039
- From: eng10039@nusunix1.nus.sg (CHEW KOK CHOR)
- Subject: Lecturing Lecturers
- Message-ID: <1993Jan26.110532.3805@nuscc.nus.sg>
- Sender: usenet@nuscc.nus.sg
- Organization: National University of Singapore
- X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
- Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 11:05:32 GMT
- Lines: 33
-
- I was really glad when news of lecturers in tertiary educational
- institutes being given a chance to take up courses on teaching came
- out. I think it is about time that they learn how to really teach
- properly.
-
- I am sure many of the local undergraduates will testify to the
- horrendous 'lecturing' and 'tutoring' of some of our lecturers/tutors.
- The lecturers have a great impact on cultivating or stimulating the
- interest of the students in their particular subjects, and so if the
- lecturer cannot deliver his lecture properly, the students tend to lose
- interest in that subject. The consequence is obvious.
-
- In NUS, the 1st year engr undergrads have to take a subject known as
- Technical Report Writing(TRW); and the 2nd year undergrads have to take
- Technical Communication Skills (TCS, I hope I got that right). These
- subjects are to make us more efficient in communicating, to dispel the
- myths (facts?!) that engineers cannot, in general, communicate
- 'normally'. I think that it's high time that the lecturers get to take
- some course in the spirit of TRW/TCS. So as to dispel the myth (fact!)
- that lecturers can't lecture.
-
- Too bad they did not make it compulsory for all lecturers to go
- through the course. But let us be the judge. Let the students vote who
- should go for the course. If not for the whole of NUS, let it be for
- the whole of engineering faculty.
-
- The general population of engineering lecturers (at least for
- 1st years) is proficient in their teaching. But there is always the few
- (not really that few) who deserve to be taught how to teach. Let those
- beware.
-
-
-
-