Just
before starting on this final reflective journal entry for Term 2, I went back
to my very first post dated 17th January. Time has passed really fast.
To
be honest, SES is actually the subject I enjoyed most. There is a lot of
discussion time during SES lessons for everyone to voice his views. This gives
us the chance to see things from different angle and learn from one another.
At
first, some of us were skeptical with this approach because we thought that it may
end up with the blind leading the blind. But it turned out quite well.
Personally, I think that SES is not very content-heavy which leaves much room
for debates. Since we are peers, we speak up more freely whenever we disagree. If
it were the teacher, we would have to think hard before asking. This learning
method suits the subject because the content is not too difficult to understand
and what we really want to get out of it is debates and discussions to show the
different perspectives.
I
must admit that preparing for the lesson is extremely time consuming and also
taxing because the readings are usually pitched at a higher level. At times, we
have to read it more than once before we can comprehend all of it. The tasks
are also challenging although they are not impossible to do. It is one subject
everyone will prepare before each lesson which is good because at least we know
what is going on during lesson and the discussion can go a lot faster and are
more fruitful.
I
feel that the reflective journal is an appropriate form of assessment. Reflective
journals give us the chance to consolidate what we have learnt in class. It
makes us think through the points that were raised in class and reflect as we
pen down our final thoughts. Most times, we are made to think of how we can
apply what we have learnt to the real life. I think this is good as it proves
to us that we are learning something useful and not just some theories which we
are forced to know for the sake of passing and doing well in examination.
However,
I am not convinced about the purpose and the need for the Research Paper.
I
feel that the term presentation, term report and the reflective journals are more
than adequate. Personally, I do not see the difference between the research
paper and the term paper. They both have the same structure and the same word
limit. The only difference is the discussion topic. I can understand the
research paper is there to make sure we listen in class when our friends are
presenting but I think there is a better way to do this other than the research
paper.
I
suggest that instead of the research paper which can be very taxing for us as
the topics only came out in the middle of the term which is the test period, we
should include the option for students to do mind maps of the lesson on top of
the reflective journal. This is less taxing
because it is presenting the points from the student presenters or Ms. Yeo in
point form. This helps to achieve the same objective at only a fraction of the workload.
Actually,
as I have pointed out earlier, the structure of the research paper and term
report is not very different. If we can just modify the format of the term
report slightly, we should be able to use it as a research paper. The term
report can be the main tool to train the students to put up a proper report.
That
is what I feel about the research paper and I apologize if I did not grasp the
objectives of the research paper correctly.
As a
whole, I feel that the topics in the curriculum are very relevant. The topics
did not appear inter-connected the first time we looked at it but as we went
along, I was able to see how they were linked together. I guess we can achieve
even more if the teacher can spend one lesson per term to show us how all the
topics are inter-connected. Some of us might not get it and I was one of them at
the beginning but I managed to gradually find a way to piece up the topics to
get the bigger picture. It was a lot more enriching when I was able to see the
big picture.
776
words
Hi Alastair,
ReplyDeleteI pretty much agree with some of the points which you have laid out in your reflective journal, especially that on the research paper. As part of the curriculum, we are already required to do a term paper after our term presentation, which is almost identical to that of the research paper, the only exception being the topic on which we are working on. Personally, this has also been rather taxing and with the research paper due in the late weeks of Term 2, this amount of time spent on the research work could turn into a thorn in the flesh considering our already humongous workload. I definitely agree that we can actually do away with the research paper and the term report after our presentation could double up as the research paper as well.
However, I do not agree with the point you mentioned about SES not being very content heavy at the start of your reflective journal, which I beg to differ. As you mentioned later on, SES turns out to be rather time consuming and we have to spend a lot of time comprehending the readings before understanding them. In order to understand a topic, we would need knowledge on the topic, which is what the readings serve to be. I think that SES is rather content-heavy in a sense that we have to be familiarized with a totally new concept and content every week. However, what SES offers is not completely on content but also on opinion and ideas. From our readings and knowledge, we are expected to come up with opinions and ideas for class discussion. Class discussion definitely serves the purpose of us being able to speak up and trains us to speak and respond critically in the future. Perhaps you mean that SES is not solely content based instead of being "not very content heavy"?
However, overall, I definitely comprehend and feel for your reflective journal as many of the points are what I feel as well.
Thank you!
Ng Aik Yang (3S218)
After reading your blog, I realised that although SES encourages the students to engage in discussion regarding the questions, quite a few of the questions presented by our classmates are, in my opinion, one-sided in that the stronger stance is quite apparent. Such can be seen in questions such as “How far do you agree that the Chinese government favours the Confucian ideology only because of its moral significance?” Regarding this question, there is normally more than one reason why a government adopts a certain ideology, and is quite apparent here that there are others. I hope that we can have more debatable issues such that we can engage from different perspectives on the issues and in turn gain more insight.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that SES can be very time-consuming, but I think that the aim of the research paper is not just to ensure that the students pay attention in class. Rather, it is for the students to research in a more in-depth manner the chosen topics and build upon what has been said in class. You also mentioned that “if we can just modify the format of the term report slightly, we should be able to use it as a research paper”. Well, I guess that that is the reason for having to choose a topic different from the one researched in the term paper for the research paper.
Lin Yulong (3S217)
I find many of your opinions and suggestions very true and relevant. In terms of the assessment format, I personally feel that reflective journal also encourage us to read through each other’s thoughts and ideas and allow us to look at the issues from different viewpoints one we ourselves could not have imagined before. I agree with your suggestion of substituting the research paper with a comprehensive mind map as well as modifying the term paper to make it resemble a research paper. Firstly, doing mind maps is an interactive and organised learning manner which could really ensure that the issues discussed leave a greater impression on the students. Secondly, the term paper and research paper are very similar in format and can be easily substituted. Although creating mind maps does not really encourage students to present their topics using proper language, I feel that it is more important and beneficial. Essentially, it all boils down understanding the issue fully and applying the knowledge gained in class. I overall, I enjoyed the various issues discussed in this module very much, and I would certainly hope that the suggestions offered can be considered meticulously so that the learning process can be more interactive, interesting and enjoyable.
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