The importance of interactive lecture note

A good lecture is a good combination of lecture material and the method of presentation of the lecturer.

Storytelling is indeed an interesting teaching approach.

Yes, you are the chosen one!

Quite a lot of my past Design Aesthetics students complained to me that the programme they are taking now is not actually what they aim for. Some of them were upset and kept trying to change programme during their study.

As a matter of fact, they were chosen by UPSI from a huge pool of students who applied for studying in public universities through the UPU system. The choice of UPSI is grounded on the developmental need of the nation, and the need has been justified and verified by various governmental agencies, including MQA, EPU, KPT, etc.

Since each of the students is sponsored by Malaysian Government--the students pay only 10% of the actual fee while the rest is covered by tax payers' money, the Government will choose students to pursue in a specific programme based on the need of nation development.

In a word, it is not the students failed to choose what they want to study; in contrary, it is the country managed to choose students to study what will be good for the development of our country. 

Yes, YOU are the chosen one!

Gamifying Design Aesthetics Course

I appointed Ms Apple Looi to be the demonstrator of MRE3014 Design Aesthetics. Her first task is to support the gamification of the course.

The intended learning outcomes (ILOs) are:
1. To explain the principles and the appreciation of beauty in the form of arts. 2. To relate the issues to do with the varieties form of traditional art and modern art which includes the visual arts, music and performing arts from various culture.
3. To demonstrate and formulate the concept of beauty based on certain principles, system and techniques, concept and criteria.
4. To analyze and criticize the aspects contained in art forms which would be learned according to robust verbal and written arguments and evidence.

First thing first, we need to conduct a constructive alignment, aligning intended learning outcomes with learning activities. So far, I have proposed three assignments as the major learning activities:

1. Assignment 1: Personal Website for Learning Reflection
2. Assignment 2: Team-based Participation in Corporate Video Animatics Competition
3. Assignment 3: Group-based Involvement in PECIPTA 2015

Prior to the briefing of assignments, we have to explain the difference between team work and group work. Also,  we need to justify how the outcome of each assignment contributes to the attainment of the course learning outcomes.

In Assignment 1, the specifications used in last semester will be reused, in which sample assignments (excellent and bad quality of works) will be shown.

In Assignment 2, the learning events can be divided into three parts:

Part 1: instilling fundamental knowledge and skills in animatics design.
a. learning how to generate ideas for a short story
b. learning how to develop story idea according to three-act structure
c. learning how to write script
d. learning how to visualize a storyline using thumbnail board and storyboard
e. learning how to design audio and pace for an animatic.
f. learning how to add title sequence and credits for a corporate video.

Part 2: Transferring knowledge and skills into actual practice via competition
a. Forming teams for animatics competition
b. Role playing in design teams (producer, director, script writter, storyboard artist, audio designer, editor)
c. Design project management (Scrum)
d. Design project presentation

Part 3: Winning in design competition
a. Enrolling in the 48 Hour Corporate Video Animatics Design Competition
b. Preparing personal reference library for winning a competition
c. PPPPP in competition
d. Post mortem of lessons learned from participating design competition

In Assignment 3, all students will be appointed as secret design agents in which they will examine an invention exhibit presented in PECIPTA 2015. They will learn:
a. how to develop assessment rubric using four dimensions of design,  three levels of emotional design, and four principles of pleasure in design aesthetics.
b. how to assess the design quality of an invention

Feedback from IJAEE Reviewer: Developing Aesthetics Assessment Skills in Bachelor of Design Programmes

When I submitted a concept paper titled "Developing Aesthetics Assessment Skills in Bachelor of Design Programmes" to the International Conference on Assessment for Higher Education Across Domains and Skills (AHEAD), the paper was accepted without any needs for revision. And then during my presentation, audiences gave comments upon the issues I raised instead of giving feedback to the paper. This prompted me to submit the conference paper to the International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation in Education (IJAEE) to gauge feedback upon the quality of the paper.

Today, I received the following feedback from one of the journal reviewers:

This has been a pleasure to read piece of writing. The abstract is brief yet sufficient and addresses the necessary components of the paper. The introduction section is great as it manages to acquaint readers less familiar with this field to the basic concepts discussed in the paper. The second section of the paper provides clear description of the design aesthetics course in UPSI. However, minor fine-tuning could be carried out to further enhance this paper. For example, a bit more depth in the discussion section would help problematize the three challenges mentioned and further illustrate their importance in the running of the course. Perhaps the author/s could also provide academic discussion on the terms ‘relativism’, ‘criterion’, ‘aesthetics’ besides providing dictionary definitions. I would also suggest consistency in naming the university (either in English or Bahasa Malaysia). Consistency is also required in the spelling system (i.e. criticise or criticize).

I am grateful for this constructive comment and suggestions, and this is exactly what I hope to gain from writing a paper. To me, this is a form of life-long learning, from peers.

Creativity = Depth of experience x Intensity of passion

I missed my flight in Beijing Capital International Airport this Monday. While waiting for the next flight returning to Malaysia, I spent quite some times in two book shops in the airport. As usual, I bought several books in the airport. One of the book that captured my attention was "Creative Brain: Using Brain Science to Cultivate Creativity" (创意脑：用脑科学激发创造力）. This book was written by a famous Japanese scientist, Ken Mogi (茂木健一郎).

Fig 1: This is the book cover.

Fig 2:  Ken Mogi 

Herewith some of the facts and figures revealed by Ken Mogi:

Creativity = Depth of experience x Intensity of passion

EIGHT (8) truth about creativity

1. Creativity is innate instinct 
2. The way of using brain determines the direction of its evolution
3. The brain is developing throughout its lifespan.
4. Creativity does not appear out of nothing; the creation of new things must go through certain levels of accumulation (knowledge, skills, experience).
5. The brain never rests: the 100 billion nerve cells are active all the time [Hebb's rule] 
6. Old age does not necessarily mean lost of passion [unavoidable uncertainties in life might be reducing, which reduce the intensity of passion towards life].
7. The capability of making intuitive judgment makes human superior as compared to animals and computers.
8. Mastery of basic knowledge and learning capability for researching questions independently are necessary for initiating creation.   

ELEVEN (11) techniques of using experience practically

1. Instantaneous touched  (瞬间感动) can make people change dramatically, resulting in more creativity.
2. Being touched can stimulate the memory of brain, activate the affection system, giving meaning to every experience. 
3. Pay more attention to the unknown world
4. Keeping the childishness when appreciating every "first time" experience
5. Be tolerant when looking at new things
6. Seeking the touching seeds
7. Go outdoors and experience the physical reality
8. Electronic games are not giving us in-depth experience, hence no experience no creativity. 
9. Uncertain environment can better stimulate creativity
10. Appreciate every emotion
11. Share a touching experience with others, regardless of its size and scale. 

EIGHT (8) ways of stimulating passion

ELEVEN (11) steps of adjusting brain states

THIRTEEN (13) principles of evolving brain 

To be continued...

Reaction to 《无美学，有丑行》(no aesthetics but ignominy)

I read today's Sin Chew Daily and I was attracted by an article written by Tao Jie (陶杰), titled No Aesthetics But Ignominy (I translated from 《无美学，有丑行》 http://opinions.sinchew.com.my/node/30238?tid=46). He condemned how dreadful Chinese from the Mainland jeopardized their public image through their worldwide misbehavior. He supposed that the damage of the Cultural Revolution, the absence of moral beliefs and the lack of aesthetic education as the roots of such ignominy.

Contemporary Chinese education is heavily grounded on utilitarian. The Chinese believe that mastery in maths, physics and chemistry would make them fearless worldwide. Literature, history, philosophy and arts have been ignored, not to mentioned aesthetic education.

The Western concept of "aesthetics" was first introduced to the Mainland Chinese through a German missionary, Ernst Faber. Ernst wrote a textbook, which covers seven types of aesthetics:
1. The beauty of nature, including the flora and fauna in the mountain and sea.
2. The beauty of architecture, including how palaces and buildings were structured.
3. The beauty of sculpture.
4. The beauty of picture, including drawing and painting.
5. The beauty of music
6. The beauty of eulogy
7. The beauty of lyrics

Ernst hoped that Chinese not only care about the survival needs, but also live with a better standard which concerns spiritual development. This marked the beginning of Chinese aesthetics.

Malaysian, from what I observed, are attributed with good aesthetics potentials. These potentials must be retained while the nation heading towards science and technology development. In fact, both science and aesthetics are not conflicting to each other. Instead, they should be and can be integrated, definitely through design aesthetics. We have to work hand-in-hand to make it happens.

Change of lecturer: Time to move on

I received a call today from Pn. Catheriana, a new colleague of mine whom I never meet, informing me that she has been appointed as the lecturer of MRE3014 Design Aesthetics starting from the first semester of 2013/2014 academic year.

The visceral reaction of mine was surprised and shocked, because I have been preparing to meet the students on Monday morning. And I also planned to implement interactive lecture session using this Blog, Prezi and Socrative. It seems like they are no longer necessary now.

After talking to Catherina over the phone, I realised that she is equally shocked. My sense of empathy emerged and I comforted her that I will support and assist her in the transitional period. Also, I will accompany her to attend the first lecture on Monday morning.

If I think positively, perhaps I am too "deep" for the students. I knew 1/4 of the students have problem understanding what I teach or intend to teach. Indeed, I pity the students but I cannot degrade the teaching to suit the deficiency of the weak students--I still have 3/4 of good, dedicated and excellent students who intend to learn from me.

Nonetheless, I knew it is the time for me to move on, and I wish Catherina and the students all the best in the journey of teaching and learning Design Aesthetics. Good luck!