It is a rapidly changing world out there and working in the industry needs agility and the right morale. Graduates should have a sense of integrity once out in the working world and should not look back at their lives regretting on emotional decisions.

 

 

Some people would agree that we should contribute to the person who made you, but I strongly believe that it is also the organisation, or the community that upholds the people who empower you should be acknowledged. My last lecture would focus on empowering the institution that has made the students one day be successful practitioners.

 

 

Knowledge, however cliched it denotes, is power. Students of my last lecture should always be reminded that as they get older, knowledge is important and it helps them towards wisdom in life.

 

 

We can never know what is coming next. But we can prepare. I would tell my students to always hope for the best and prepare for the worst. The world is constantly changing trends, and it is up to them to make and find ways to themselves useful or not.

 

 

The most important point of my last lecture would be on character. Everything else summed up without good character would leave people be blinded by short term rewards and pleasures in life. I would tell my students to always keep grounded no matter what they become, and believe that there is always a better long-term purpose for them should there be any shortcomings in the future.

 

Always be prepared on what you are going to teach. Students expect you to be more knowledgeable than they are. Make time to prepare and read on the current issues regarding the topic that you are going to teach, and give room for the students to discuss about it. Engage with the students by acknowledging their strengths and differences. This is because my experience taught me that students want your attention, and that students can easily Google on the topic that you are teaching. It is the role of teachers to be more ahead of the students and be open to discuss new knowledge that were discovered by students.

 

As teachers we need to not always be updated with the current issues about the courses that we are teaching, but also be vigilant of new policies and processes of education. One of the most current examples of an educational policy is iCGPA from the Malaysia Higher Education Blueprint 2015-2025. We must know how to implement and understand the process of the policy in order for us to effective teachers suited for the current demands of the industry and standards.

 

University teaching and learning involves adults, and adults need to know that what, how and why of things, Therefore, we need to be clear of what we want to achieve in teaching and what we expect from our students in terms of learning. The best example is by giving out the course outlines of the course because it has course learning outcomes that can serve as goals. By explaining the goals, it is also effective to justify why is it important to achieve the goals and why are we implementing specific delivery methods and assessments. My experience taught me that students are more cooperative when we tell them what we expect from them, and justify why we give them such marks. Therefore, it is best that we prepare a rubric for each assessment for them to internalise and act before they start doing their assignments or project.

Science is defined as a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject. It is a study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. I think science is quantifiable, measurable and has specific goals. One simple concept of teaching is giving information about or instruction in (a subject or skill). Giving information can be quantifiable because the nature of syllabus and curriculum designs are based on what you teach (learning units) and then once you have taught the specific learning unit, you ask whether or not the students are able to comprehend the subject. Once they do, you can check it off the list. I think that teaching is science because it has specific goals (course learning outcomes) and the practice is testing as to whether or not it achieves the goals, like hypothesis testing. If the goal is not achieved, we find ways to achieve it through reviewing (continuous quality improvement) and then test it again. 

Art on the other hand, studies with human creativity and social life. It is often considered the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. In comparison to science, art is qualitative, subjective, and deals with exploration. Another equivalent concept of teaching is to cause (someone) to learn or understand something by example or experience. Teaching requires soft skills and visual aids that appeals to the students. To be effective, teaching needs to be more than just achieving tangible goals. 

The reason teaching is art because art plays a major role on how and why you teach what you teach. Teaching has meanings, and in order to teach, we need to be creative with our delivery methods, our interaction and communication skills with the students. Teaching also involves reaching out to different student backgrounds while expecting the same achievable outcomes and this difficult task requires a lot of creativity and subjectivity. This task is not measured in the curriculum.

Therefore, I personally think the nature of teaching is a combination of both science and art. However, the science nature of teaching is more prominent in terms of paper, while the art nature of teaching is often overlooked because it is embedded on the dominant science (outcome) based principle of teaching and learning.