Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference 2017 III

It is Day 3 and the final day of RPIC 2017!
The highlights of Day 3 - 
1. Prof David Carr's Keynote Address on Moral Character and Virtues in Education and Teaching
2. Prof Kim Sung-Il's Keynote Address on Interest-based Learning: A New Pedagogical Framework for Future Education
3. Group photo with my team of wonderful RAs and more importantly, they are my friends!

Prof David Carr's Keynote Address

Prof Kim Sung-Il's Keynote Address

My team of wonderful RAs and more importantly, my friends

3rd Assessment Colloquium 2016

Today is the start of the 2-day 3rd Assessment Colloquium 2016 organised by CTL. It is my great pleasure to have been invited to be part of this annual event. :) Of even greater pleasure and honour is the fact that as part of the Plenary session, I provided a response to the keynote speaker, Professor Val Klenowski's keynote address about putting teacher judgement back in frame, using student self-assessment. Prof Klenowski is renowned scholar on assessment practice and curriculum development. I never dreamt that I would meet her in person, and much less to be on the same stage as her!

Professor Val Klenowski

My response to Prof Klenowski's keynote address! :)

RP Conference Day 1

It is Day 1 of the Redesigning Pedagogy Conference.
Busy, busy, busy. I was running around, making sure the keynote speakers have their presentation uploaded onto the notebook for presentation.
I was only too glad to put my feet up to rest in the afternoon lol.

Day Three: Conference

I picked up my buddy, Prof Hannele N from her accommodation and brought her early to the LT for preparation for her keynote presentation before 8am. As usual, like for the past two days, I ran between the two LTs to upload the PowerPoints and/ or make sure the IT equipment are set up for the keynoters. There were again two concurrent keynote speeches in the morning: one on PISA by Prof Hannele N and one on educational research by Prof Erica M. I attended the keynote about PISA as Singapore will be participating in PISA 2009 and I was interested to know the reasons for the success of Finland in PISA. :)

After the keynote session was a panel session on the UK TLRP programme followed by lunch. After lunch, I helped my buddy to sort out her flight booking as she was leaving immediately for the airport after the Keynoters Roundtable and Closing Ceremony at 5:30pm. I supported a good friend by attending his presentation which was before the Keynoters Roundtable. His presentation was most interesting and unconventional. :)

I really enjoyed the Keynoters Roundtable. All the keynoters: Profs Hannele N, Deborah B, Erica M, David B, Andrew P (an invited panelist), Magdelena M (except for Prof Roy P who has left), gave their views on various issues. It was extremely insightful to hear from our superstars of education on the various issues of assessment, IT, etc.

The closing ceremony commerced after the roundtable. The conference co-convenor gave thanks to a number of people, especially D and S who really deserved the thanks! :) After the closing ceremony, I had a really wonderful surprise which I will remember for the rest of my life. The panel of keynoters indicated for me to go up to them on the stage. Thinking that they wanted me to do something, I went. Who would have guessed what they did next. I had the whole panel of keynoters giving me thanks in unison! I would never in a million year dreamt of such a thing happening: the superstars of education thanking me! :) Later one keynoter told me that they were baffled that I wasn't in the thank you list so they decided to do it themselves. I think the keynoters' gesture to give me thanks, on their own accord, meant a lot more to me. I was extremely happy and touched by them that they actually recognised and appreciated my efforts. :) I will always treasure that moment. :)




After the conference, my colleague and I sent Prof Hannele N to the airport. She too has been most appreciative of my assistance throughout the conference. She hopes that I will one day go to Finland, either for conference, short-term studies or even if it is just for holiday. She would be most happy to see me again. :)

I finally got home close to 7:30pm. I have definitely earned a well-deserved rest. :)

Day Two: Conference

I was at the conference by 7:50am as I had to make sure the keynoters were all set up for their presentations and that the things would be running smoothly. Unfortunately the keynotes in the morning was concurrent. I could only attend the one on assessment by Prof Magdalena M. The other keynote was on IT by Prof Roy P. Again, both keynoters are big names in their field of education.

After the keynotes, there were concurrent invited panels on: popular culture & education and religion & education. Again, I had to help upload the PowerPoints that were sent to me by the invited panelists into the PCs in the LTs. I remained to help in one of the panels to control the switches for the panelists. During the panel session, I also had to locate the whereabouts of the keynoters as they have an important lunch with PS MOE immediately after the panel session. Thank goodness, four of them were in either panel session. The other two would make their way to the lunch venue. After the concurrent panel sessions, I gathered and escorted the four keynoters to the lunch with PS MOE.

After that, I went to my first presentation venue to prepare myself. I skipped lunch totally. I just was too nervous haha. I was the 3rd speaker for the first concurrent paper session (1:30-3pm) on Science Education. I was very shocked to see the room overflowing with audience! Some even had to stand. :O I was darn nervous but I had the support of my friends who were there at my session. Somehow I felt encouraged by their presence. Thanks, my friends. :)

I went immediately to my next presentation venue. Again I was the last speaker (3:15-4:45pm) on Student Performance and Assessment. Once again there were more people than available chairs. I had to sms for chairs to be brought in. No one I know was at the session. But somehow I wasn't as nervous as the first presentation. Maybe I was high on adrenalin haha. :P But for once, I thought I really held my own. Maybe because it is on my PhD. :) I had quite a number of questions but I was able to answer them. I impressed one Master Teacher so much that she is thinking of inviting me to give a talk about self-assessment to her other colleagues from 5 or 6 schools. :) I am so relieved and happy that both my presentations went well. My boss high-fived me and Prof David B gave me a hug for a job well done! :) I am quite touched that the keynoters asked about my presentation and how it went. I am surprised that big names like them actually remembered small fries like me. I mean they have more important things to remember. :P

At 5pm, I again gathered the keynoters and brought them to the pick up point for tonight's conference dinner which was held at Malay Cultural Village. There was a guided museum tour, followed by Malay buffet dinner and Malay dances during dinner. It was really interesting and fun. Everyone enjoyed the conference dinner. :)






By the time I reached home, it was close to 10pm. I was exhausted but sleep didn't come easy. Another day to go...

Day One: Conference

Day One: Conference 9am - 6:15pm

I arrived at the Auditorium where the Opening Ceremony and keynote speeches were held before 8am. Once there, I was on my feet throughout. Running up and down the auditorium, seeing to keynoters' needs, making sure keynote presentations would run without any glitches, saying Hi to people, ... I was just busy, busy, BUSY!!!

The conference opened proper at 9am with the opening ceremony speeches, followed by two keynote speeches (lunch in between) and two blocks of concurrent paper sessions. I was most enthralled by the keynote speeches, one on high stakes testing by Prof David B and the second on math teaching by Prof Deborah B. Both Profs are heavyweight in the education arena or as my good friend says, they are the superstars of education! :)

I finally managed to rest my legs during the paper sessions (from 3 - 6pm). However, I wasn't idle. I was working on my PhD presentation in the "cave" (my office) as I had yet to finalise my implications and conclusion. By 5:45pm, I was off again with a colleague to pick up two keynoters from the campus hotel accommodation for a dinner organised for keynoters and invited panelists at 6:30pm. My job (looking after the keynoters and invited panelists) ended at 7pm when they boarded the coach and set off for the restaurant.

I could finally go home for a rest but only a short one as I still had to look through the slides for both my presentations tomorrow. Hmm, maybe I should have withdrawn one... but I was too stubborn and proud to withdraw any of my papers. :P