Publications

This paper documents the effort to inspire Year 2 building services engineering students to develop critical thinking, reflection, technical and communication skills, and knowledge required to be self-learners. Students were required to learn what it takes to design, construct, and manage a high-rise building's mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems in Singapore and apply the knowledge to solve a design problem. Students interacted with industry professionals with design, construction, and facility management experience to aid their design of MEP systems for a high-rise building in Singapore. Students were equipped with design thinking skills in the design studio. Students got the opportunity to deepen their building information modelling (BIM) software (Revit) skills and used them to develop and present their designs. The students believed the design module learning journey, which emphasised the importance of conducting research for effective design, equipped them with fundamental knowledge and skillset sought after in fresh university graduates. They also believed that the module learning journey allowed them to effectively familiarise themselves with building MEP systems and the Singapore codes and standards for designing the MEP systems.

Interactive oral assessments demonstrate potential to develop graduate attributes such as critical thinking, professional communication and collaborative skills in students through authentic simulation of workplace scenarios. This study captured the design, delivery and evaluation of interactive oral assessments across three programmes – occupational therapy, nursing and air transport management – in one university. A four-step Model to Build Authentic Assessment was used to design the assessments. Quantitative and qualitative data collected from 158 students, five assessors and three module leaders were analysed for a basic evaluation of the fidelity of interactive oral assessment implementation across different contexts and to explore the experiences of faculty and students undertaking the assessments. Fidelity was considered in terms of: (i) whether students could express their individualised responses, (ii) if they perceived the assessment to be authentic, and (iii) if it helped them gain professional knowledge and skills. In all the developed assessments, each of the three aspects were somewhat evident, evident or clearly evident. Qualitative findings suggested the interactive oral assessments reflected real-world expectations, promoted deep learning and offered a quality learning experience. From these results, practical suggestions for how faculty can self-assess their readiness for implementing interactive oral assessments are offered.

The use of gamified tools to increase levels of student engagement has grown in the past decade. The present study examines the effects of a gamified intervention platform, known as AdventureLEARN, on three types of students' approaches to learning: (1) deep, (2) organised, and (3) unreflective approaches. After completing the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory (ALSI) on AdventureLEARN, students received a personalised list of learning resources to improve learning approaches, based on their responses on the ALSI. A total of 700 Year One students from Academic Years (AY) 2018 and 2019 participated in this study. Their approaches to learning were measured at the end of Year One. Students who accessed three or more learning resources in AdventureLEARN showed a significant decrease in unreflective approaches to learning after a year, with no significant changes in deep and organised approaches to learning observed. These findings indicate that AdventureLEARN could be a promising gamified platform for reducing students' unreflective approaches to learning. Lastly, the challenge of building a self-driven gamified intervention, rather than a classroom-based intervention, is briefly discussed. The inclusion of additional meaningful gamification techniques that address psychological and social needs are proposed for future research.

An exploratory study was conducted on the use of common English expressions in accountancy and business courses in a Singapore university. The aim of the study was to investigate the use of English expressions required by students to engage in effective communication at their workplace either during their internship period or upon graduation. Data garnered through a quiz, an online survey, semi-structured focus group interviews with students, and face-to face interviews with business professionals were analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitatively to gather the perceptions of students and business professionals on the use of English expressions such as common idioms, proverbs and catchphrases relevant for workplace communication. The study found that students’ interactional competence can be enhanced by increasing their learning engagement through relevant communicative activities that include English expressions in the physical and/or virtual classroom.

Assessing student understanding and extending student learning beyond the face-to-face or synchronous online lesson is commonly done with the use of online discussion forums. However, the challenge reported by tutors of higher education has always been the lack of active participation and critical engagement by students unless the task is graded formally. Researchers have been investigating various approaches to facilitate effective learning experiences such that students are motivated to engage others when they are tasked to partake in such asynchronous discussions. This paper explores how I sought to engage my Engineering undergraduate students, reading a critical thinking and writing module taught in a blended learning environment, in online discussion forums with the adoption of the Paul-Elder critical thinking framework. The aim was to develop higher levels of criticality in thought in students’ forum responses, while demonstrating the application of the critical thinking tools, such that they were able to collaboratively construct knowledge and deepen their conceptual understanding of Engineering leadership. Results of the analysis found that students were engaged in spontaneous dialogic discussions in the form of repeated extended posts published in the online discussion forums. Furthermore, analysis of student critical reflection essays also confirmed that the online discussion forums, with a deliberate use of the tools of the framework, had contributed to their development of critical thinking skills to deepen their understanding. This paper concludes with a recommendation for tutors of higher education to make the assessment of students’ critical reflection or critical thinking skills visible for students with a proposed conceptual framework for online discussion forums.

The increase in the number of adults returning to complete their university education as ‘non-traditional students’ brings more attention to the challenges of a standard degree format. This paper examines the experiences of seven non-traditional students undergoing a cooperative education programme in Singapore, where students would alternate spending a few days in a week at a university while working full-time for the remaining days, in relation to the challenges and opportunities of the programme. Using qualitative thematic analysis, we discovered four themes greatly affected by the programme design – motivations for enrolling, transferability of knowledge, work–study balance and coping mechanisms. Overall, some obstacles hindering adults from continuing education were addressed by this cooperative education programme. The strong integration of work and study roles ensured that adults did not need to leave their job before starting university, reducing time and money-related pressures while increasing their commitment level to education. Additionally, rigid institutional practices were mitigated by the flexibility given by teaching faculty and work supervisors. We suggested several improvements to better suit the rising number of adults wanting to attain a degree. With the research results and recommendations proposed herein, this paper is useful to various universities willing to adopt cooperative education.