The End

Finally, the C.P.U workshop which I had mentioned in my previous post had reached a successful ending. The response from the students were quite moderate and we had about 200 students participated on this event.

Basically, this workshop had been divided into two sessions, the first session involved some talks from the invited speakers, studying skills and motivation videos. We had been honoured to invite the representative, Mr. Teoh, from Jobstreet.com to give the speech about the future trend in ICT. I have been impressed by his talk as he had presented an insightful picture about the current and future trend of ICT industries in Malaysia with the statistical data. Definitely I hope all the participants (no matter you are a student or lecturer) would benenited and inspired by his talk.

Representative from Jobstreet.com

While the next session we had actually prepared five games for the participants which required them to form a total of 15 groups before playing the games. Each of the groups was led by one or two helpers who have been the seniors. The role of the lecturers was acted as facilitator to oversee the entire progress and ensure the games were run smoothly within the time frames. The objectives of preparing these games were to cultivate the team work spirit among students, to train them the time management skill as they were required to finish the tasks given to them within the specific time frame. Most importantly, to promote the interaction between the freshmen with their seniors and lecturers.

Last but not least, I would like to extend my greatest gratitude to all my colleagues and student helpers who worked together to bring the glory of this event.

Registration

Division of PA

Security & MC

Speeches by Deputy Dean - Dr. Lim and Mr. Alex Ooi

Games competitions

Helpers and Dr. William (Chairperson of C.P.U)

Group photo - Helpers & Committees

Middlesex University

Few days ago, I had a short conversation with the deputy dean (DD) of my faculty when I accidentally met him at the staircase as he was on his way heading back to his office. It had been my honour to have the precious moment to talk to him about my PhD plan.

I am quite appreciated of his concern about my progress to preparing for my PhD studies. During the conversation, he had referred one of his friends whom will be joining UTAR soon and has the close connection with the Middlesex University in UK to me. According to him, due to the close connection of his friend with the Middlesex University, I can actually register my name under that university as a part time PhD student under the supervision of his friend and I do not required to reside in the UK for the entire PhD period except viva. The tuition fee is quite acceptable as if compared to those foreign universities in Malaysia. At the end, I would get a certificate issued by the Middlesex University. What an attractive deal, isn't it?

The next day I received an email he sent to his friend and CC to me. I was quite surprised that he had recommended me to his friend about the story he mentioned to me earlier. I really appreciated of his concerns and kindness to recommend me a potential supervisor for my PhD studies. Although I prefer to be a full time PhD student to enjoy my last student life, I would take his advise into the consideration especially during this time of economic crisis which seems quite difficult to obtain a scholarship.

Thanks DD.

Another Nice One !!!

As recommended by a friend about this piano cello version of Love Story by Taylor Swift and Viva La Vida by Coldplay. Could you imagine what would happen when they meet each other? Let's John Schmidt tell you the story and I bet you gonna love this masterpiece!!! Enjoy!

Love Story

Taylor Swift - Love Story

We were both young, when I first saw you.
I close my eyes and the flashback starts-
I'm standing there, on a balcony in summer air.

I see the lights; see the party, the ball gowns.
I see you make your way through the crowd-
You say hello, little did I know...

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles-
And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet"-
And I was crying on the staircase-
begging you please don't go...
And I said...

Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess,
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.

So I sneak out to the garden to see you.
We keep quiet, because we're dead if they knew-
So close your eyes... escape this town for a little while.
Oh, Oh.

Cause you were Romeo - I was a scarlet letter,
And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet" -
but you were everything to me-
I was begging you, please don't go-
And I said...

Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes-

Romeo save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.
Oh, Oh.

I got tired of waiting.
Wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in you was fading-
When I met you on the outskirts of town.
And I said...

Romeo save me, I've been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting, for you but you never come.
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think-
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said...

Marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone.
I love you, and that's all I really know.
I talked to your dad -- go pick out a white dress
It's a love story, baby just say... yes.
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh.

We were both young when I first saw you.

A Story ...

Girl made a complaint to guy that he had not care about her. Guy just kept himself quiet and said nothing to the girl. Within, guy had told himself would try to care more about her.

One day, girl was coming back from the other town and expecting the guy to fetch her up at the station. However, the guy had failed her expectation as he had been trapped in the traffic due to the unforeseen circumstances. The anxiety had taken control of his usual calmness. Then he called the girl. She picked up the phone. As from the conversation, the guy sensed that the girl had mad at him, he felt guilty and apologized, but she hung up. The anxiety was getting stronger and stronger after a few attempts to reach the girl as there was quite a distance from the station to the town area. Again, she hung up and did not answer.

The guy reached the station. He called the girl again to check where she was. Again, the phone had been hung up. The sadness filled up his heart. He searched the station, searched the buses ... The efforts were in vain, no trail could be found. Eventually, he had been told by a friend that the girl had safely reached home.

Guy met her at home and apologized. She said nothing and returned with an ironic stare. The strange looked from the girl had raised the uneasiness of the guy and made him chilled. Since then, the guy had rarely talked to the girl as each time they met would remind him about the stare, which had drawn certain degree of fear deep into his heart. The fearful had stopped the guy to claim his promise to care more about the girl ...

C.P.U Motivation Workshop

The "Competence.Progressive.Upskilling" (aka C.P.U) motivation workshop is just around the corner. The idea of having this event was initiated by my boss which has placed the priority on the new students from our department.

It was quite a surprise to me when I had been told about this event. Indeed, there are plenty of motivation workshops out there to help students. However, none of those I have ever heard was actually organized by a university department. Though the intention is undoubtedly good, what about the outcomes? Would they really appreciate the workshop? Would they really beneficial from the workshop? If yes, to what extents?

Frankly speaking, I am not quite really looking at the brighter side of the outcomes if the students do not change their spoon-feed attitude. They are too passive and expecting to get A-Z from lecturers and never have thought the role an undergraduate supposed to be. Indeed, you may argue that they are paying higher tuition fee if compared to the local universities and should be expecting something in return. Yes, you are right, and you are wrong! Students should not be expecting to get everything from their lecturers, instead, they should take the initiative to explore the new knowledge. The role of a lecturer is nothing but a navigator, to guide the students heading to right directions. University serves as a very good platform for students to share their ideas, to exchange their knowledge and train their personalities. However, after a few months since I been here, I found that only a very limited number of students that could fill up the gap when I taught them only A & Z. They are indeed very good students and I could perceive they have been practicing positive attitudes in their learning process. "We are paying ... " - I know you are paying, does that mean we should pamper you well? To tell you when to study? What to study? How to study? You would never ever want to argue upon this point right in front of me as I used to be a student from a private university and was paying higher tuition fee than yours. Therefore, the reason "we are paying" sounds bad to me and does not make sense at all.

Students, take my advises, change your learning attitude, be dared to explore new knowledge, be dared to share your ideas among friends, behave yourself as a true undergraduate. We are never giving up you, if you are not giving up yourself!

Assignments

I have been scratching my head since the semester started about what assignments are to be given to my students. For this semester, I have planned three assignments as the practical exercises for my students to expose them to the object-oriented (OO) environment.

Currently, I have come out two assignments' topics which are quite related to each other. The first one just requires them to develop a simple programme that takes N integers specified in the parameter and perform some calculations. The second one requires them to modularize the operations they developed in the first assignment. I believe through these assignments they should have ideas in mind about the advantages of practicing the modularity and reusability in developing applications.

For the third assignment, I am still on my way to figuring out. Most probably this assignment would require them to develop a simple graphical user interface (GUI) application. However, my focus definitely will not place on GUI as it just to enhance the user experiences. What I am concerning is to get them understand the most important concepts in the OO world, which are the inheritance, polymorphism and the encapsulation. Therefore, the question should not be focused intensively on developing the GUI but to instill the three pillars of the OO concepts to the students.

So ladies and gentlemen, could you suggest me what would be the third assignment for my students?

Hello World

The words "Hello World" have been used in almost every computer programming literature to introduce the very first programme to the readers. By taking the idea to name the title of my first article posted in the cyberspace to fulfill its ultimate purpose "introduce".

In fact, I have owned this space a couple years ago without posting any single word since then. Reason? It could not be simpler, the laziness! Perhaps, I should quit from this habit to invest some of my times to start blogging, regardless whether it is a long or short article. If you look at others' blogs, it is not difficult to find that they share some similarities. You may curious to ask me, "What are they?" Theme. You must set a theme to shape what your blog is all about. It could be about your works, about the foods you tried, about the hang-out places and many more. Therefore, a theme is important to be identified before start blogging which gives you ideas what would be on your blog.

Perhaps, "general" could be considered as one of those themes as I have no favor in any specific topic that to craft my blog.