We should prepare our students well for the creative industry

I attended the Astro GOInnovate 2014: Mobile Game Conference yesterday in Malaysia Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), Cyberjaya with my postgraduate students (lecturers from IPTS). 

I met some CEOs and bosses of game and animation companies in Klang Valley and discussed about the prospect of our non-education students in the creative industry (games, animation and advertising). 

One of the issue I raised was regarding the placement and opportunity for internship / industrial training. There is a misunderstanding among some academics and most students on the expectation of internship. Most bosses do not expect to spend time training interns on core knowledge and skills, instead they expect interns to be workplace-ready; while our students expect to acquire core knowledge and skills associated to their major which they did not acquire from lecturers in the university. 

To many Malaysian companies which are barely surviving, every resource they have is essential for production. Thus every works station they setup is definitely meant for 24-hour production cycle, and it is not economical if the workstation was used for training what our students should have learnt in the university. Thus, we should inform our students to stop expecting to learn core knowledge and skills during internship. There are companies which are willing to spare the workstations during night time for interns to do low-value jobs (e.g. clean-up artwork), we should appreciate that and inform our students to get prepared for night-time tasks. Working for long-hours is the norm in creative industry--I remembered working in animation studios for nearly seven days straight without proper sleep, food and bath in order to meet company's deadline. 

It is no doubt our responsibility as the students' lecturers to at least introduce to the students most if not all the latest core knowledge and skills practiced in the creative industry. If we thought we might not have the latest core knowledge and skills ourselves, we should at least attend workshop, training or seminar organised by MDec, MCMC, FINAS, National Art Gallery, etc to refresh our knowledge and skills for teaching. For instance, by attending the Astro GOInnovate event, I discovered that apart from Google Play Store and Apple Apps Store, I can publish students' and my apps through more than 900 Apps Stores, including the Astro Go Play in Malaysia now. After learning this latest information, I am going to relate my teaching to this direction to maximize the exposure of our students' work worldwide. 

Perhaps we should start to reflect and review the rationale and meaning underlying internship or industrial training practice for our students to better prepare them for the creative industry now. 

Bagaimana 'Menterbalikkan' Kursus Dalam Talian

Di peringkat pengajian tinggi, lazimnya pelajar diberi input tentang isi pelajaran melalui sesi kuliah bersemuka yang disampaikan pensyarah melalui syarahan. Di luar waktu bersemuka pula pelajar diberi tugasan yang biasanya memerlukan mereka mencari maklumat, berbincang dalam kumpulan, menyelesaikan masalah, dsbnya. Manakala konsep 'Flipped Learning' atau 'Flipped Classroom' (yang saya percaya kebanyakan kita sudah ada pengetahuan tentangnya) pula menggunakan pendekatan menterbalikkan bila dan bagaimana sesuatu aktivi PdP berlaku. Dengan lain perkataan, penggunaan Flipped Learning memberi peluang pelajar berbincang, bersoal jawab, menyelesaikan masalah semasa perjumpaan bersemuka manakala input yang biasanya disampaikan melalui syarahan bersemuka diperoleh pelajar daripada sumber dalam talian (sama ada dibangunkan pensyarah sendiri atau pihak lain). Model menterbalik ini (video selepas itu kelas) menjadi trend pada masa ini kerana pada dasarnya kita menginginkan PdP yang lebih bersifat berpusatkan pelajar di mana pelajar dijangka melibatkan diri secara lebih aktif dan membolehkan mereka mencapai hasil pembelajaran pada aras kognitif yang tinggi.

Sebenarnya bagi program PJJ, kita sudah menggunakan pendekatan menterbalik ini di mana pelajar PJJ mendapat kebanyakan input daripada modul yang dimuat naik ke dalam MyGuru3 dan pada sesi tutorial bersemuka, mereka diberi peluang berbincang dan bertanya soalan serta mungkin menyelesaikan masalah bersama tutor. Namun adakah cara yang kita laksanakan ini berkesan dari segi pencapaian hasil pembelajaran yang diingini (aspek kognitif, kemahiran dan afektif)? Saya percaya ada antara kita yang berasa sangsi tentang keberkesanan pelaksanaan PJJ yang kita ada sekarang. Terdapat juga pensyarah yang terus menolak cara PJJ dilaksanakan sekarang bagi kursus-kursus yang bersifat lebih teknikal antaranya seperti kejuruteraan, statistik, matematik dan sains. Pada pandangan mereka pembelajaran bersemuka sangat perlu dalam menyampaikan isi kandungan pelajaran seperti ini.

Mengikut Mia McMeekin kursus-kursus dalam talian seperti apa yang kita ada sekarang juga boleh diterbalikkan pula untuk memberi kesan pembelajaran bersemuka. Klik pada link http://www.edudemic.com/how-to-flip-your-online-classroom/ untuk melihat beberapa cadangan beliau. Jika dianalisis, semua cadangan itu memerlukan pensyarah e-learning berinteraksi aktif dalam talian di samping menyediakan modul yang bersifat interaktif (contohnya ada video interaktif berbanding hanya modul teks sahaja). Maka terpulanglah kepada pensyarah masing-masing untuk mewujudkan persekitaran pembelajaran dalam talian yang berasa seperti pembelajaran bersemuka tetapi pada masa yang sama membolehkan pelajar bergerak mengikut kebolehan mereka sendiri.   

How to judge the answers given for open question

According to Anatoly and Mark during the School for CreativeThinker Level 1 Workshop, there are three core criteria for judging the quality of answers given for any open question, i.e. applicability, originality and speed. These criteria echo the answers given by Tony Buzan to me when I asked him “how to evaluate creativity”. Tony mentioned four criteria, i.e. novelty, quantity, practicality and aesthetics. Here, I attempt to combine these two sets of criteria for judging the answers given by learners for open question.

Originality

Originality means the answer is novel or new. If the idea or answer is something that I never heard of, i.e. the learner generates the idea out of nothing, that is considered as creative. If the answer is something similar to what I knew but the learner alters or changes some of the features or attributes of the one that I knew, that is innovative. However, the concept of originality is rather relative and temporal dependent. In R&D for example, a proven original result or outcome might lost its originality if someone in this world was discovered to have created the same or similar outcome earlier. Therefore, originality is time or temporal dependent.

Applicability

Applicability, practicality and usefulness are synonymous concepts that define the quality of an answer. The degree of applicability is resource-dependent. The result of applying an answer can be calculated using a formula given by Anatoly (see fig 1). According to Anatoly, some people become smarter because they know the methods and they have the necessary tools. Personal capability and knowledge alone are not sufficient to solve complex problems, but these are the fundamental resources needed to make an answer useful.

Speed

How to make good decisions fast is the key concern when judging the quality of answers for open question. Learners are encouraged or even forced to generate as many ideas as time permits. This idea of speed is similar to Tony Buzan’s idea of quantity, i.e. how many ideas one can generate in a predefined time.

Aesthetics

When the answers fulfil the above mentioned three criteria, aethetics or the beauty of the idea could be taken into consideration when judging the quality of answers to open questions. Four principle of aesthetic design proposed by Prof Paul Hekkert (2006) can be used as the guide in making the aesthetic judgment, i.e.:

• Maximum effects for minimum means
• Unity in variety
• Most advanced, yet acceptable
• Optimal match

Grooming UPSI graduates to become successful Edupreneur

I am attending the MTDC Technology Commercialization Conference now. One key idea I gained is grooming UPSI graduates to become successful education entrepreneur, a.k.a. Edupreneur.

Students in UPSI are generally talented in matters they're interested in, whether those matters are related to their study or not. If these talents are well channeled and groomed, the students could become successful edupreneurs, i.e. by integrating their talents with pedagogical knowledge and skills to produce sellable educational creative contents. The talents that I have identified include singing, drawing, animating, playing musical instruments, shooting/editing photos or videos, programming, storytelling, storyboarding, advertising, and writing.

Over the lunch, I happened to meet Mr. Ronald Li, who introduced himself as a futurist. Ronald sent me an email last week, intending to working with me on the project that won a Gold Medal in PECIPTA recently. He possesses experience working in Australia, and now trying to assist individuals in Malaysia to commercialize R&D outputs. I shared the idea of grooming "edupreneurs" in UPSI. He seemed like interested in the idea, so there might be rooms for collaboration.

In practice, TNCPI suggests to jump start the spin off company, probably by placing containers in Sultan Azlan Shah campus. This suggestion echoes what I proposed to my Animation students recently, i.e. replicating what UPM had done. I begin to think about the features of those containers. They would be called "Creative Edu-Containers @ UPSI". There will be power supply, ideally solar power or rain-related energy. Each of the containers will be equipped with high speed WiFi, basic or even repurposed furniture, and computer with freeware.

Perhaps, UERL can work with Students Affairs Department to organize the 1st UPSI Edupreneurs Competition. Top three of the contestants will be working with UERL to establish creative education design and development companies.

I believe this is something we all in UPSI can work out together. Of course, with the students.

Written by,
Dr. Tan Wee Hoe
UERL Deputy Director I

Lost in Translation

The instructor and the translator of the School for Creative Thinker Level 1Workshop were Mr Anatoly Guin and Dr. Barkan Mark. Anatoly is the Vice President on School Education of the International TRIZ Association. He is the founder and Chief Scientist of "Education for a New Era". As Anatoly is not well-versed in English, Dr. Barkan Mark, the President of "Education for a New Era" became his translator (Russian-English) and interpreter during the workshop.

I wish I could understand Russian so that I would not feel like missing something from what Mr. Anatoly said. As Dr. Mark Barkan is playing dual roles--as an instructor and the translator for Anatoly, I was confused whether what had been said by Dr. Mark Barkan was his own idea or translated idea. Also, if I could understand, I should be able to learn more from Mr. Anatoly because after comparing the workshop materials with the actual presentation slides he delivered, there are quite a lot of the materials left for self-exploration.

Of course, if Anatoly could conduct the workshop in English or if the participants could under Russian well enough to comprehend the contents, the interactivity and authenticity of learning would be greatly enhanced.

How to design something that you have not seen before: A systematic innovation approach

In the School for Creative Thinker Level 1 Workshop, I was given the task to design an extra-terrestrial (E.T.). Mr. Anatoly suggested the use of a design tool that consists of several possible attributes of E.T. (e.g. size, mass, level of intellectual, method of communication, senses, mobility, emotion). By thinking through the features of the E.T., we could imagine the look-and-feel of the E.T. systematically.

In fact, I have been using similar approach when I teach Character Design courses. In my course, I would ask student to fill in the Character Profile form that consists of a long list of W questions that my students must answer before visualization how their character would look like. I learned how to use this tool in 2002, when I was an undergraduate student at Multimedia University.  

Examples of Education Research Laboratory

A few examples of education research laboratory which were visited by Dr. Tan Wee Hoe during his doctoral study between 2008 and 2011 are featured in this blog post. Herewith the brief reflection of these labs.

The first lab he visited was the International Digital Laboratory which was built under Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), in University of Warwick. He witnessed the opening ceremony of this lab, in which it was officiated by the former Prime Minister, Dr Gordon Brown, who was controlling a pair digital scissors to cut the digital ribbon.

Home page of the Digital Lab. 

The second lab he visited was the London Knowledge Lab. He participated in a seminar in Oct 2008, on 'Computer Games, Access, Disability'. The event was organised by London Games Research Group, Institute of Education, University of London, UK.

The third visited lab is the Serious Games Institute, Coventry University. He used to drive to SGI to meet and discuss with technopreneurs and researchers there. 

At the end of his PhD study, he worked as a consultant for Play2Improve Ptd Ltd, which had its physical presence at the White Space of the University of Abertay Dundee, Scotland. 

With the references and reflection on the above mentioned entities, hopefully UERL could establish itself to become another world class research entity for academics in this region.