Menceduk Ilmu

Last Friday gi tgk Final Year Students (degree BSc) kat Faculty of Technology ni present their project. Sebenanrnya nak pegi tgk2 dan usha2 how it's done here, and how different is it from the ones yg my institution does in Malaysia...

1) I must say I am very, very impressed with the level shown, actually sampai tahap malu kat diri sendiri pon ada gak sbb I don't think I can come up with the same stuff. The work presented here, although prototypical, mmg working la, so it's not just system, it's hardware jgk. I guess that would help them, bcoz this pameran is actually open to public, and potential employers i.e. people from the industry, were also there to look at the stuff. Terbayang2 budak undergrad where I taught dulu2 tu, alahai, a handful je projek betul2 siap. Lain2 semua x jalan. Ada yg ckp motherboard terbakar la, link x jalan la, need two more weeks la, hang la, mcm2.

2) Jelas plak terbyg passion dlm kerja masing2 kat sini. They know very well about the things that they did. And it being presented dlm big hall gitu, mcm ala2 research expo plak. Altho baru aje undergrad level, diorg dah print poster size A0 utk explain summary of their project. And when asked, masing2 bole jawab dgn konfiden. Kenapa ye students kita masih ramai yg fail bab communication and confidence bila berdepan dgn public? Age is not an issue, sbb I think depa ni pon awal 20-an.

3) Pemakaian pon smart2, mcm nak jual produk betul2 plak. Dulu ada skali di Msia, my student ini dtg present in jeans and T-shirt. OMG rasa nak hampuk kepala dia and bg F- aje.

4) Aku tgk ada sorg je pompuan dlm keseluruhan tahun ni. I guess jurang gender dlm bidang science and technology ni masih luas di UK, whereas di Msia aku rasa kalo Sains Komputer tu ratio dia lebih kurg ajo.

5) Lps borak2 dgn ada student ni, aku dpt tahu projek di sini dijalankan for one term (Sem 5). Final sem nanti (sem 6), baru tulis dissertation. Pada aku, bagus jgk buat gini, sbb students dpt fokus betul2 dkt projek for one term, and bkn lah juggling projek plus writing, spt mana amalan at where I used to teach. Tu yg projek siap ala kadar, writing pon tunggang langgang. So at least kalo stretched over 2 sems, by the end of sem 5 mmg confirm complete dah projek dia, and then when sem 6 comes, they can get on with writing, which is ENTIRELY a different set of skills than developing the thing itself.

6) The whole event is big. Ada reception, registration, aku yg jalan2 bodo2 pon dapat badge nama, ada refreshments to all yg hadir, it's open to everyone, and everyone soal menyoal ramah tamah. This is very good I suppose, sbb it will force students utk make sure by hook or by crook system dia jalan jgk. Kalo setakat dpn supervisor, mcm2 students tu bole kencing kan. Even kalo ada moderator/examiner pon kdg2 bole lg dia senyum2 mcm kerang busuk sbb kantoi. Satu lg, when it opens to all, it forces SV to eye the students' progress like a hawk sbb it partly reflects on them too. Kalo mmg konfem system x siap a few days before pameran, mmg x payah la nak luluskan budak tu lg. Here's your F-, see you next sem, good day aje lah.

Ok that's all komen aku. Bkn nak condemn pelajar2 kita, tp tgh brainstorm mcm mana nak improve certain areas. Apa salahnya belajar drpd pengalaman org lain kan?