Gave egs of Analysis to Masterplan

Clarified strengths and weaknesses of each groups

Marking of ICE 1: Group B: good graphics for most. Many got the gist of what a McHarg Map is but nt clear as to what a composite map is. Gabriel Seah asked for egs.

One student commented that it was an interesting lecture on Raffles and English Landscape School as implemented in the Singaporean landscape. She applauded. Another student wrote in the blog that I should reduce the amount of animation on the slides.

 

I used a lot of photos for the lecture on history especially prominent figures like Raffles, Capability Brown and Henry Ridley. I tried to expound on one mainpoint or historical event per slide so as not to cram too much facts into one slide and the students can pace themselves. This is especially after the lecture last week on vegetation, soil and climate in site planning where I tried to cram too much in one lecture.

 

More blog entries are coming in and I enjoy reading them It looks as if the students are getting into the discussion.

 

Tried to explain that they should not confuse masterplanning with site inventory and analysis. They need to look at what is existing first in order to understand the site before design.

 

Need to revamp Module overviews – look into again the difference between site planning vs design: did some brainstorming and got some ideas

I think I tried to squeeze in too much for todays lecture on vegetation, soil, climate in site planning. It created a desire for many of them to doze off which is exarcebated by the fact that it is an 8 am lecture.

 

The Hands On session at the nursery was postponed as there was heavy rain.

Very attentive class. I find this cohort vocal with their thoughts which is a good thing. It shows that they are thinking as I teach. They wondered why they were doing History so I clarified it is necessary to know historical influences on a site from Site Context to the site. Since we are doing masterplan of a large area of Rochor Canal, we need to understand the History of Singapore to be able to determine historical forces on a site.

 

I used lots of images and I treated it like storytelling. I received a round of applause at the end which was pleasantly unexpected. As follow up, a member of the class would have to delve into the history of Rochor Canal and Tekka and Jalan Besar. The students also have been making lots of site visits to learn about the site and perform site inventory and analysis. In this way, they are exposed to the history and heritage of Singapore. I also gave them a task of writing their thoughts on kampung life in the module blog. We shall see what they write in it!

I taught principles of site planning and intro to modules. Using lots of diagrams from powerpoint and pictures created sustained interest. I also introduced the concept of sustainable development and ecological planning model which will form the backbone of their site planning and design project. After the lecture, they began to input their data on invididual maps, a technique of the ecological planning model eg. Vegetation map, circulation map, building footprint etc.

They had a brief overview about Survey questionnaire and principles in question formation. After lecture, there was a class discussion about the questions for their project – one person per question. Then lecturer analyse each one and the class rep set up the questionnaire. I also told them to write their questions on the Blackboard Wiki after which I gave comments on each one. The Wiki Tool is highly useful for such project work I think.

Today was the first day of the new Academic Year. It was also the first day interacting with the Year 3 students with whom I’ll be for the rest of this year. My Section Head conducted a briefing for their final year project. I did not like the way she reinforced the label ‘Good For Nothing’ for some of them when one of the weaker students called out the label. I was determined that I’ll try and help the weaker students and increase their motivation for the course.

I attended a workshop by Spencer Kagan, the guru of coorperative learning. The workshop is entitled Teach Less Learn More, something which I have been curious about since I joined the institution. The two day workshop was certainly fun and it opened up my mind as to what teaching and learning really is. Kagan has developed Kagan Structures which can be selected to be used for any kind of lecture or lesson. Some involved round robin in groups, Think Pair Share to using large rubbe dice to trigger interest to what is called a travelling star or a jigsaw. I was excited to try and implement some of the Structures to my class for the next Academic Year.

Today was a meeting with the CMT. There was a lot of discussion as to the proposed design project for next year’s Year 3. There project encompasses Rochor Canal, Little India and Mount Emily. I felt that the project site was rather big.