You always know a geek when you meet one. And to meet a geek who is cool, forward looking and interesting, that’s good news because he or she will likely inspire another generation of geeks. Try meeting a whole room full of them, and of course, led by the head geek, Prof Ben. Call me nostalgic for missing the creative, supportive environment, but the 2 hours of CS3216 felt like Silicon Valley all over again… Well almost. 2 big reasons why.
1. Star Wars, Highlander
Since I first watched Episode V, “There is no Try” has been a key motto. (Watch it here if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)When Prof Tom Kosnik first mentioned about him aspiring to be our Yoda during E145, the Stanford High Tech Entrepreneurship module that we took for NOC, it resounded immediately. It was a pleasant surprise to have this analogy brought up again. And not only that, through Highlander and the other quotes and movie/show analogies mentioned in the class, this was geek talk at its best, but it somehow made my headache (from having had 6+ hours of class already before the lesson) go away, and “headfake” my mind into thinking that I’m hanging out with friends.
2. Making a Difference, and Having fun doing it
I have been, since starting Cheers Connect International, a leadership training company, been preaching about being a person who adds value to the lives of the people around us. This was why I loved Silicon Valley so much, seeing a virtuous cycle of people helping one another achieve their goals every single day. While I have been involved with, and have seen movements by organizations (E27, TDM, ASES, etc.) that have tried to do this, I have always thought that embedding these activities within core curriculum, would have a must more significant effect.
Enter CS3216, and the core objective was presented as “Making a Difference”. As I had hoped after being told to watch Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, this course was, in part or in full, motivated somewhat by the VR class that Randy had establish. This was what I have been waiting for to happen at NUS, and I’m glad to be part of it.
All in all…
Well this is the beginning, and as proven by the contact exchange exercise, where we had to find people with various skill sets in the class, there are brilliant people in the class, and I will learn from and contribute to the entire learning process in more ways than one. There is no Try.
Some photos taken with my iPhone during class. Will do better next time with a proper camera.
Renaissance [ren'i-säns']: A revival of intellectual or artistic achievement and vigor
The Renaissance that all of us are familiar with, which is the cultural movement towards or humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning that happened between the 14th and 17th century, was something that could not be specifically explained why or how it originated. Theories of its origin included the assimilation of Greek and Arabic knowledge, changes in social political structures in Italy, and the devastation that Black Death brought about. Every movement, though years in the making, needs a trigger point which inspired the people involved to do something about it.
Well people around me know that I have been wanting to revive WongHongTing.com for the longest of times, and it definitely seems reasonable to expect a well maintained website from someone who does social media consultancy, but it has yet to happen thus far. Having assisted organizations to successfully launch corporate blogs, and having come up with tons of materials (mainly entrepreneurship and leadership related), I have both the skills and the content to begin my journey online, but it just didn’t happen.
However, on 12th January 2009, everything changed. It was supposed to be the start of Semester 2 of the 2008/2009 academic year, and just another day in school. It was supposed to be the Monday where I would try to see which of the 2 classes (will not drop CS3216 for the world, and ES2007S won’t start till next week) I would decide to drop, having planned a Monday schedule that looks like this:
At the end of the day, I have to quote Prof Ben and say, “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger!” While many will probably think that I’m stretching my limits doing this, I would say that it is entirely worth it. Let me explain:
1. The Choice is Mine
A University student in Singapore has a pretty strict curriculum to follow no matter which major you might be in. (NUS is actually the best place to be in Singapore given the relative flexibility in being able to take a wide variety of courses in Science, Engineering, Business, etc. as compared to NTU and SMU students who are pretty much stuck to their own course.) Having fortunately/unfortunately having to extend graduation by one semester, I have the pleasure of having additional bandwidth to choose modules that I enjoyed, since I have to do the extra semester anyway. So for the Monday modules, I had all 4 modules being none core modules: Investment Analysis, Professional Communication, Game Theory and Strategic Analysis, and of course, the Facebook module. Well obviously, since they’re none core, I chose these because they seemed interesting.
2. Exciting Content
A major complain being a QF student that I am is that, while I insist on the importance of the theoretical financial mathematics, I find most joy in more human-centric and creative fields of study (perhaps that’s why Stanford seemed exciting to me). So it seems obvious that Investment Analysis, Game Theory in Business setting, and of course, Facebook would possess contents that offer much room for creativity and new ideas to roam.
3. Yodas
“Do or do not, there is no try” This has always been a motto of mine since watching Episode V of Star Wars, and was pleasantly surprised when it appeared in class. I have met my fair shares of Yodas (aka trainer of the Master Jedis) who have led me in my path towards the “Force”, but to find 3 excellent lecturers (who will likely attain the status of Yoda in my heart during the course of the semester) in one semester in the first day of the semester, this has never happened before.
Be it engaging in countless attacks towards the Banking sector and attempting to convince us not to take up Investment Analysis or Finance itself, or dabbling in captivating games for 3 entire hours, or simply connecting to students at a frequency which set the tone for defining who belongs to the class, the day was without a doubt – The Best Day I have ever had in NUS. After a good 9 hours of class, (would be 11 next week! *gasp*), it is amazing how my mind is still wide awake, and how I stayed up to begin renovation on this piece of property called WongHongTing.com.
This not inline with MOE’s campaign to hire more teachers within the next few years, but to end off this post, I must say that having been on the receiving end of such excellent teaching, we all must, in our own ways, continue to inspire a next generation of thinkers and propel them towards their goals.
The beginning of the Renaissance of this site, begins now.
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
- Albert Einstein
Renaissance [ren'i-säns']: A revival of intellectual or artistic achievement and vigor
The Renaissance that all of us are familiar with, which is the cultural movement towards or humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning that happened between the 14th and 17th century, was something that could not be specifically explained why or how it originated. Theories of its origin included the assimilation of Greek and Arabic knowledge, changes in social political structures in Italy, and the devastation that Black Death brought about. Every movement, though years in the making, needs a trigger point which inspired the people involved to do something about it.
Well people around me know that I have been wanting to revive WongHongTing.com for the longest of times, and it definitely seems reasonable to expect a well maintained website from someone who does social media consultancy, but it has yet to happen thus far. Having assisted organizations to successfully launch corporate blogs, and having come up with tons of materials (mainly entrepreneurship and leadership related), I have both the skills and the content to begin my journey online, but it just didn’t happen.
However, on 12th January 2009, everything changed. It was supposed to be the start of Semester 2 of the 2008/2009 academic year, and just another day in school. It was supposed to be the Monday where I would try to see which of the 2 classes (will not drop CS3216 for the world, and ES2007S won’t start till next week) I would decide to drop, having planned a Monday schedule that looks like this:
At the end of the day, I have to quote Prof Ben and say, “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger!” While many will probably think that I’m stretching my limits doing this, I would say that it is entirely worth it. Let me explain:
1. The Choice is Mine
A University student in Singapore has a pretty strict curriculum to follow no matter which major you might be in. (NUS is actually the best place to be in Singapore given the relative flexibility in being able to take a wide variety of courses in Science, Engineering, Business, etc. as compared to NTU and SMU students who are pretty much stuck to their own course.) Having fortunately/unfortunately having to extend graduation by one semester, I have the pleasure of having additional bandwidth to choose modules that I enjoyed, since I have to do the extra semester anyway. So for the Monday modules, I had all 4 modules being none core modules: Investment Analysis, Professional Communication, Game Theory and Strategic Analysis, and of course, the Facebook module. Well obviously, since they’re none core, I chose these because they seemed interesting.
2. Exciting Content
A major complain being a QF student that I am is that, while I insist on the importance of the theoretical financial mathematics, I find most joy in more human-centric and creative fields of study (perhaps that’s why Stanford seemed exciting to me). So it seems obvious that Investment Analysis, Game Theory in Business setting, and of course, Facebook would possess contents that offer much room for creativity and new ideas to roam.
3. Yodas
“Do or do not, there is no try” This has always been a motto of mine since watching Episode V of Star Wars, and was pleasantly surprised when it appeared in class. I have met my fair shares of Yodas (aka trainer of the Master Jedis) who have led me in my path towards the “Force”, but to find 3 excellent lecturers (who will likely attain the status of Yoda in my heart during the course of the semester) in one semester in the first day of the semester, this has never happened before.
Be it engaging in countless attacks towards the Banking sector and attempting to convince us not to take up Investment Analysis or Finance itself, or dabbling in captivating games for 3 entire hours, or simply connecting to students at a frequency which set the tone for defining who belongs to the class, the day was without a doubt – The Best Day I have ever had in NUS. After a good 9 hours of class, (would be 11 next week! *gasp*), it is amazing how my mind is still wide awake, and how I stayed up to begin renovation on this piece of property called WongHongTing.com.
This not inline with MOE’s campaign to hire more teachers within the next few years, but to end off this post, I must say that having been on the receiving end of such excellent teaching, we all must, in our own ways, continue to inspire a next generation of thinkers and propel them towards their goals.
The beginning of the Renaissance of this site, begins now.
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
