Talk about ending the year 2015 on a high note! Dr Rani Tan from Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) and Ms Rosie Ching from School of Economics, both SMU Senior Lecturers, did SMU proud when they won three awards at the distinguished Wharton-Quacquarelli Symonds Stars Reimagine Education Conference & Awards 2015. The awards which were held in Philadelphia, United States, in December 2015, applauded them for two apps which they had created – GameLead and CSI Agent on a Mission.
GameLead
Dr Rani Tan’s app, GameLead, won the Social Sciences and MBA Discipline Award and a silver award in the ICT Tools for Learning & Teaching category.
The app was designed to be used in the Leadership and Team Building course, hence the name GameLead. It has since been used in her own ‘Leadership and Team Building’ classes as well as that of her colleagues, with an aim to engage students in learning beyond the classroom, in an easy, intuitive and seamless manner.
The app certainly made Leadership and Team-building lessons more interesting and engaging for first-year information systems undergraduate, Tan Beng Guan, Timothy. "Because the app was community-based, I learnt from my peers when I looked at how they thought about questions and answered them," Timothy said. The weekly discussions, debate and competition (as students in the class compete to gain the most points) also broadened his horizon.
[Photo: Dr Rani Tan, Senior Lecturer at SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business. Her app, GameLead, has made lessons more interesting and engaging for her students.]
Upon receiving news of her win, Dr Tan, who is also the ‘Leadership & Team Building’ Course Coordinator, said, “I’m really delighted and pleasantly surprised that the GameLead app won not one, but two awards! It is a miracle and thank God! At SMU, we are always looking at new and innovative teaching methods to engage our students right from the start. The app was created by me and some of my undergraduate teaching assistants and used since 2013, initially for my own classes on Leadership and Teambuilding. Now some of my fellow colleagues who are teaching the same module are also using it. The number of students using it has expanded from 170 to currently over 500. This recent awards are certainly a huge encouragement for our efforts!”
CSI Agent on a Mission
Also flying the SMU flag high was Ms Rosie Ching, whose app – CSI Agent on a Mission – clinched a bronze award in the Educational App category. The app was also shortlisted for the Teaching Delivery category.
"I am very happy to be able to bring the education of statistics to a whole new level of innovation for students who become CSI Agents travelling the world to crack CSI statistical missions. My idea began in 2011 and four years on, it has evolved from a Flash online game into an iTunes app which has received international recognition from the Oscars of Higher Education. I am happy and humbled by this achievement,” said Ms Ching. She also wished to thank her students, School and family for their encouragement and support.
[Photo: Ms Rosie Ching, Senior Lecturer at SMU School of Economics, is happy and humbled by this achievement.]
One such student who enjoyed learning with the app is Kwek Jian Qiang, first-year undergraduate from the School of Social Sciences. "I think the CSI game is interactive and engaging. The real life plot of the game gives the user a sense of purpose, and statistics concepts were well integrated within. I especially like the ability to redo the game, as I can use it as part of my revision for the finals!"
Fourth-year business undergraduate, Veronica Hong Shu Hui, said, “I thought that it was a really interesting and a one-of-a-kind way to teaching statistics. I was also very amazed and impressed by the details of the game.”
Support for faculty
“The Centre for Teaching Excellence at SMU supports faculty who are interested in teaching and innovating through the purposeful adoption of technology. In this case, the use of games and simulations in or outside of the classroom promotes learner engagement with the content, instructor and peers. We are delighted that our faculty members’ efforts in using games as an instructional strategy is recognised by a panel of 40 international experts,” said Professor Tan Swee Liang, Director at the Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and Practice Associate Professor at the SMU School of Economics.
CTE supports and works closely with faculty across SMU’s six Schools to develop customised digital course content and tools for their classrooms, which typically take the form of apps and games and, occasionally, animation videos and learning objects. In addition to technical and pedagogical services, CTE also provides funding, evaluation and research support, which extends to the collection and use of data on teaching innovation and learning. For example, in the case of GameLead, CTE’s Assistant Director and educational researcher, Dr Nachamma Sockalingam, undertook a systematic study to understand how the app could be used effectively to enhance teaching and learning.
[Featured photo: (L-R) Dr Rani Tan and Ms Rosie Ching's efforts in developing innovative teaching methods have garnered them top honours at the 'Oscars of Higher Education'.]
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