Goals of Student Learning

My teaching goals are to see that my students are successful in learning; make them realize that they can be successful in their chosen field; that teaching and learning process is not spoon-feeding but make them aware that knowledge-seeking is also an art which involves creativity. The main goal is to teach effectively for the students to achieve maximum performance. My short term goal is to remember and recognize all land surveying students and regularly review my method of teaching to increase student learning. Another is maintaining control through discipline, a progressive action which instructs and trains an individual to adopt acceptable standards. Discipline strengthens the good behavior patterns which make the individual a happier and better-adjusted person. Constructive emotions such as affection, empathy, pleasure, anger, humor, and openness strengthen the individual in his striving toward the ultimate goal in a democratic society – the employment of his self-discipline. Good discipline requires a harmonious relationship between lecturers and students – a relationship which creates a desire for growth. I feel disruptive emotions such as anxiety; fear, aggression, anger, and prejudice should be avoided. The key to maintaining good classroom discipline is motivation. Students who are actively at work do not discipline problems. The goal of maintaining control should be to develop student self-control. I must provide opportunities for students to learn to exercise self-control, which is a skill necessary in society. Self-control cannot be learned under an autocrat who makes all decisions, formulates all rules, and sets all standards. When punitive measures must be taken, I should choose the simplest, least harsh technique. I will guide the student while doing their assignment to make sure that they didn’t late submit. I will ask the student to send to me their finding every week. For lake comers, I will send a warning letter to them. I will tell the student not plagiarism their assignment. I encourage the student to develop sophisticated critical reading, writing, and research skills and will apply these in their study. Students are being able to plan and conduct survey and mapping works using the most appropriate tools and procedures. The students also can apply and analyze information using appropriate Geomatics Engineering techniques and tools. The students could use the techniques, skills and modern Geomatics engineering tools to solve Geomatics engineering and related problems creatively. They also should able to manage, analyze and synthesize geospatial data for specific purposes in Geomatics engineering. Communicate effectively and use information and communication (ICT) technology aptly. The students also could identify, analyze, formulate and solve problem scientifically. They also can learn independently and understand new concepts in Geomatics engineering and adapting new Geomatics technology. The students can lead, coordinate and manage people and team effectively and work collaboratively within the team towards Geomatics-based business environment to adapt several of situations and expectations within the team towards Geomatics-based industrial. They can practice good ethics and positive values in the profession and society of Geomatics Engineering. Finally, they can identify business opportunities and embark on entrepreneurship in Geomatics Engineering
As an academic staff, I will produce teaching materials – book, monograph. I want to increase the number of students who can reach grade A in my courses. I will improve my teaching style and achieve good score in teaching evaluation.

Teaching Philosophy

I believe that every student has great potentials in academic excellence, but being a Malaysian we are bounded by cultures, traditions and social obligations which influence the way the students learn. Our teaching and dissemination of information to these students are different from other countries. I felt lecturing is my responsibility and worship that I have to be responded by delivering all the knowledge to the students. My philosophy is more on the student-centered approach, therefore to achieve this objective I should be friendly, approachable, communicative, have listening power. I also believe that teaching is a complex process and skills that require a complex approach to accurately measure effectiveness. I also believe that the only way to learn land surveying is by practicing a lot on the mathematical and fieldwork aspect because real learning derives from their effort to solve mathematical problems through class assignment, discussion, and exercise. By doing so, I view myself as a facilitator for this learning process by designing the teaching through stimulation and nurture the students’ development. I stimulate them by giving them help through knowledge, techniques, and encouragement.

Besides that, it is also important that we make our students good human beings by relating the knowledge to their workplace, be responsible, creative, innovative and inculcating life-long learning so that they can serve mankind to their very best ability. To achieve this we must have very good knowledge and meaningful outlook of real-life situations so that they can cope when they come out to face the world. Therefore we must show good habits and idealism to the students so that they will become good human beings.

As a teacher, I fell that teachers never stop learning and always get new knowledge before delivering to the students. I always make sure that my lectures are well prepared and organized. I encourage question during the lecturer and interaction either in the classroom or outside the classroom. Another important factor behind my teaching philosophy is motivation which is the desire to achieve and in education, motivation is the desire to learn. Since I am teaching teenagers, it is the extra push that impels young people toward the hard work of education. I believe primarily this push comes from inside the student. Therefore, as a lecturer, I must try to establish the process of learning as the goal that will satisfy the real and abiding pangs of hunger, or needs, of students. Therefore the learning environment should be conducive and receptive to the teaching and learning process.

Belief and practices of assessment and evaluation

In my opinion, grading should be motivational and not judgmental. Grading is not done on a strict curve but should be based on their performance in achieving the task and the performance of students in examinations. With this in mind, it is possible for everyone in the class to get a good grade. I normally do have high expectations of my students when grading. For the students to learn geomatic engineering, I try to strike a balance between being strict but at the same time motivate the students rather than discourage them. Thus, it is possible for everyone in the class to get a good grade or the opposite. This approach towards grading helps the student to evaluate their performances, that is it gives a signal to students to either work harder or to even drop the course if it is too difficult. Further, the students will have an idea of their ability or progress achievement so that there will be no surprise later. I have tried to increase communication and feedback by announcing my handphone number and even pasted information on my door. I encourage the use of office hours, and I make myself available at other hours as well. I tell my students they are welcome to come by my office at other times, and unless I have an immediate deadline or meeting or class, I will be able to help them. As a lecturer, I must have control over my class. I must establish myself as competent in both subject matter and classroom control. Therefore I must be consistent and definite. My students must know that I meant what I say. I believe that to be hesitant, the vacillating lecturer will gain neither the respect of his students nor control over the classes. At the beginning of a teaching career, I find the control to be one of my principal worries. I avoid resorting to extremes such as act grim, humorless, afraid that any show of human qualities will permit the class to get out of hand. I avoid placing myself on the students’ level and attempt to show they are the adolescents’ equals. I believe neither posture gain respect. Adolescents expect the lecturer to be human, with a sense of humor but at the same time expect the lecturer to act accordingly. I discover that I must exert a relatively strict external control over my classes. I should seek opportunities for loosening the control as students gain the ability to discipline themselves and to take responsibilities. I must understand the standards and the set of values of the groups I am teaching. Students who have been accustomed to rather rigid control in their previous classes will develop skills of self-discipline slowly. A group of students accustomed to democratic processes and self-disciplinary procedures will resent the imposition of strict external controls. It is my responsibility to make certain that the students know and understand the rules and regulation in effect in the classroom. I feel it is wise to permit students to participate in setting standards in keeping with their abilities to do so. Students should be given independence in making choices and held responsible for the consequences of their actions. One of the essentials of good discipline is for me to learn the names of my students as rapidly as possible. Each student likes to be identified as the individual he or she is and to be called by their names. Students will also take note if I show unfairness toward individuals in my class. I try to remain fair when I make allowances for individual abilities. I feel it is wise for me to identify the leaders of the class groups and give them opportunities for helping to develop self-discipline in the classroom. Students who are busy in a worthwhile learning activity have little time for misbehavior. This calls for considerable planning on my part to see that students have work to do and that time is not wasted.

Self Reflection and Improvement

Through this course, I learn more than my 16 years of teaching experience. Making materials, attending workshop or seminar and sharing ideas by publishing conference or journal paper are the most productive ways for improving my teaching strategies and designing a better lesson plan in a future class. Physical and psychological need of the learner should be the first consideration for efforts to improve teaching. Motives spring from the physical and psychological needs of the individual. Students must be motivated if they are to learn, but to motivate them is not an easy task. Techniques that work well in one situation may be useless in another. About all one can do is to point out that as a lecturer, I have to try to create the desire to learn and to suggest principles and possible techniques for creating that desire. For example, I take advantage of the students’ present motives, make the potential learning seem worthwhile, help the pupil establish suitable tasks and objective keep up the pace, develop a receptive mood in the learner, and cultivate in the learner ideals and attitudes conducive to learning.
I have been working very hard in the last several years to try to improve my classes. The primary focus in this process is providing an environment which promotes better learning. This means looking at all aspects of the course, not just trying to improve my lecturing skills. I have found that it is especially important to remain flexible and modify the teaching methods to fit the students in the class. Some students thrive on lectures with lots of theory, others need lots of examples and visual materials. Some students learn well in groups, and others prefer more individual attention. It is important to talk to the students and grade some assignments and/or quizzes early in the course to get an idea of the various students’ strengths and weaknesses. Then I can try to adjust my teaching methods accordingly, and in the process hopefully, benefit all of the students.
One of the ways is first to know the background of the students, next is to recognize the learning styles of students, then to identify their learning difficulties and last to be able to take up strategies in the teaching process to overcome existing problems. I have tried the traditional teaching (lecturing method) to a more collaborative student-centered approach that is giving them to shoulder responsibilities of learning. First giving the concepts and theories of topics, highlighting and spending extra time to more difficult concepts, but spending less time to much easier concept. Next step is to check on their understanding of the concept just presented by giving problems to finish at a given time frame normally five minutes. Each of their effort in the teaching-learning process, for example, trying out problems in class at a given time, quiz, and other activities are given a reward by collecting points which will amount to below hundred or more. These points when converted to percentage will only account for 10. I give them the freedom to either attempt questions individually or in groups as they like it. Another factor that I have observed is that our students will work better when not under pressure but with proper guidance. There are at times a student could not solve a problem, as a lecturer and as a facilitator the student will be guided through and will be given more time normally the next meeting. From the philosophy mention earlier, motivation plays a role in my teaching of undergraduate students. I capitalize on the curiosity of teenagers or youth. The students will do their homework more eagerly because they want to find out. This is an important type of motivation. The use of suspense is an example of a technique by which I take advantage of an innate drive – curiosity. Suspense catches and holds the students because they want to find out the ending or rather how the problem can be solved. I believe if a lecturer wants the students to feel that the learning of the course is valuable, I must feel so myself. I sincerely feel that if I am enthusiastic about the subject, I will be a much better salesman than being bored by my course. Sometimes an enthusiasm is hard to resist. I must make sure that students catch the spirit of enthusiasm too to convince learning. This is vital to make students have the inner feeling of the willingness to work to acquire knowledge. It is well known that some students see little value in much of their homework and find it difficult to arouse much enthusiasm for their tasks. I must make sure the classes I teach seem worthwhile to all of my students. Unless the students think their lesson is worthwhile, their participation will be only grudging, no matter how valuable the lessons are. If lessons are to seem worthwhile, the students should know approximately what this goal is and why it is important. To become enthusiastic about a lesson when a person does not know what he or she is about to learn or why you should learn it is more difficult.

Once a class is interested, I must be constantly alert to keep the class free from dead spots. A dragging class can kill all the enthusiasm of the most eager group of pupils. Dull classes lead to wool-gathering and switching of attention and interests to other less desirable activities and goals. In every meeting of every class, the students should feel that the class is going somewhere important. They should also feel a certain amount of pressure, however slight, to exert themselves to go along too. Therefore motivation is too important in the teaching-learning process to be left to chance. It is the key both to good learning and to good discipline. Only students who are well motivated to learn well. When students fail to learn, the chances are great that the basic cause of the trouble has to do with motivation. So I must engender and cultivate in the students an attitude and ideals favorable to learning.

I believed that students change through the times and educators have to cater to new teaching methods and strategies to meet the changes. Therefore, I will improve my teaching skill by attending related teaching seminar, courses or workshops. Others teaching activities that can be improved by the effort of doing research related to my teaching, student supervision, always involves in discussions and always changing information and ideas. I always read books and scientific papers to upgrade my knowledge in the effort to improve my teaching contents from time to time.

a. Attended several courses such as; active learning, generic skill development, teaching and learning
process, and assessment
b. More group work in class and home assignment
c. Embed with a case study or example.
d. Discuss with the student on how to improve my teaching delivery skills