Heng Ngee Mok | Singapore Management University (original) (raw)
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The flipped classroom has been gaining popularity in recent years. In theory, flipping the classr... more The flipped classroom has been gaining popularity in recent years. In theory, flipping the classroom appears sound: passive learning activities such as unidirectional lectures are pushed to outside class hours in the form of videos, and precious class time is spent on active learning activities. Yet the courses for information systems (IS) undergraduates at the university that the author is teaching at are still conducted in the traditional lecture-in-class, homework-after-class style. In order to increase students’ engagement with the course content and to improve their experience with the course, the author implemented a trial of the flipped classroom model for a programming course with pair programming as the predominant in-class active learning activity. Student feedback on this pedagogy was generally very positive with many respondents considering it effective and helpful for learning. One of the biggest advantages mentioned by students is that they had the option to watch each video lecture as many times as required to be prepared for class. The author also observed that students were more engaged and empowered to take on more ownership for their learning. He recommends that other instructors consider rolling out their own trials of the flipped classroom incrementally for courses that would benefit the most from this pedagogy.
This paper describes how a generic computer laboratory equipped with 52 workstations is set up fo... more This paper describes how a generic computer laboratory equipped with 52 workstations is set up for teaching IT-related courses and other general purpose usage. The authors have successfully constructed a lab management system based on decentralised, client-side software virtualisation technology using Linux and free software tools from VMware that fulfils the requirements of fast "switch over" time between consecutive lab sessions, the ability to support a wide range of IT courses and usage scenarios, low cost, easy maintenance, and a sandboxed environment for potentially disruptive IT security lab exercises. Sufficient implementation details are provided so that readers can build a similar lab management system. The objective is to share ideas and experiences that may be useful for lab administrators in academic institutions facing the same requirements and budgetary constraints.
International Journal of Information Technology, Jan 1, 2010
Every industry strives to be called a "profession", and software engineering is no exception. Thi... more Every industry strives to be called a "profession", and software engineering is no exception. This paper attempts to define "profession" from three different perspectives and provides a chronological narration of the professionalization efforts of major IT bodies such as the IEEE Computer Society, Association of Computing Machinery and British Computer Society to promote software engineering from "occupation" to "profession". The outcome of this professionalization process is then examined against the three vastly different definitions of "profession" to qualitatively gauge the success of the professionalization process.
IEEE Transactions on Education
Differentiated instruction in the form of tiered take-home lab exercises was implemented for stud... more Differentiated instruction in the form of tiered take-home lab exercises was implemented for students of an undergraduate-level programming course. This paper attempts to uncover the perceptions and usage patterns of students toward these new lab exercises using a comprehensive survey. Findings reveal that these tiered exercises are generally very well received and preferred over their traditional "one size fits all" counter-parts. Although the study does not show that tiered exercises have improved proÞciency or scores, it does seem to indicate higher student engagement and motivation levels. Based on the survey results, a list of recommendations is put forth for the structure and format of tiered exercises that can be applied to future offerings of this programming course as well as to other similar courses.
The flipped classroom has been gaining popularity in recent years. In theory, flipping the classr... more The flipped classroom has been gaining popularity in recent years. In theory, flipping the classroom appears sound: passive learning activities such as unidirectional lectures are pushed to outside class hours in the form of videos, and precious class time is spent on active learning activities. Yet the courses for information systems (IS) undergraduates at the university that the author is teaching at are still conducted in the traditional lecture-in-class, homework-after-class style. In order to increase students’ engagement with the course content and to improve their experience with the course, the author implemented a trial of the flipped classroom model for a programming course with pair programming as the predominant in-class active learning activity. Student feedback on this pedagogy was generally very positive with many respondents considering it effective and helpful for learning. One of the biggest advantages mentioned by students is that they had the option to watch each video lecture as many times as required to be prepared for class. The author also observed that students were more engaged and empowered to take on more ownership for their learning. He recommends that other instructors consider rolling out their own trials of the flipped classroom incrementally for courses that would benefit the most from this pedagogy.
This paper describes how a generic computer laboratory equipped with 52 workstations is set up fo... more This paper describes how a generic computer laboratory equipped with 52 workstations is set up for teaching IT-related courses and other general purpose usage. The authors have successfully constructed a lab management system based on decentralised, client-side software virtualisation technology using Linux and free software tools from VMware that fulfils the requirements of fast "switch over" time between consecutive lab sessions, the ability to support a wide range of IT courses and usage scenarios, low cost, easy maintenance, and a sandboxed environment for potentially disruptive IT security lab exercises. Sufficient implementation details are provided so that readers can build a similar lab management system. The objective is to share ideas and experiences that may be useful for lab administrators in academic institutions facing the same requirements and budgetary constraints.
International Journal of Information Technology, Jan 1, 2010
Every industry strives to be called a "profession", and software engineering is no exception. Thi... more Every industry strives to be called a "profession", and software engineering is no exception. This paper attempts to define "profession" from three different perspectives and provides a chronological narration of the professionalization efforts of major IT bodies such as the IEEE Computer Society, Association of Computing Machinery and British Computer Society to promote software engineering from "occupation" to "profession". The outcome of this professionalization process is then examined against the three vastly different definitions of "profession" to qualitatively gauge the success of the professionalization process.
IEEE Transactions on Education
Differentiated instruction in the form of tiered take-home lab exercises was implemented for stud... more Differentiated instruction in the form of tiered take-home lab exercises was implemented for students of an undergraduate-level programming course. This paper attempts to uncover the perceptions and usage patterns of students toward these new lab exercises using a comprehensive survey. Findings reveal that these tiered exercises are generally very well received and preferred over their traditional "one size fits all" counter-parts. Although the study does not show that tiered exercises have improved proÞciency or scores, it does seem to indicate higher student engagement and motivation levels. Based on the survey results, a list of recommendations is put forth for the structure and format of tiered exercises that can be applied to future offerings of this programming course as well as to other similar courses.