After the First Week of Class in Summer 2016

Students in the BUS237 Comp Lab.

The first day of class for the summer 2016 semester started on the week beginning on May 9 for students in Fraser International College at Simon Fraser University. There are about two hundred and fifty new students in FIC this semester. I am also glad to start the new semester with many familiar faces. Like previous semesters, I will be teaching the BUS237 Introduction to Computer Information Systems for Business from the first week onwards. And the other Pre-Masters Program classes will only start on week three. So, summer is going to be a pretty busy semester for me in terms of instructions and support from week three.

Getting ready for first day lecture

Personally, the first week was more about getting familiar with the students, discussing about the course workload, responsibilities and components of the course as a whole. I would like to set the path for students right from the start. We also talk about course requirements, responsibilities, procedures and policies. My aim is to make sure every student understand the opportunities and benefits of the course and are able to achieve the best results possible within these similar circumstances. The students too are pretty eager to get the semester started and have shown great enthusiasm. I am pleased and satisfied with the first week of classes.

Start of the Summer 2016 semester

I am actually glad to be back in school after the two weeks break. Last Friday was orientation day for the newly arrived students and today classes started as early as 8.30am. My BUS237 Introduction to Computer Information Systems section 3 class was one of the early classes this semester. And, just like every class that I teach, first thing I do is get to know the students. I call out the students' names one at a time from the attendance record and they reply with their preferred names and course concentration. After that, I will discuss about my role and the students' responsibilities for this course. Included in the discussion will be course components, grading system, assignments, exams and policies. Lecture on Chapter 1 starts immediately after a short break.

I am assigned to three sections of this course this semester on top of the PreMasters Program courses. This is going to be my busiest semester for the year. Other than teaching, I will also be conducting two to three workshops within the semester, depending on the availability of time on my schedule. Also, not forgetting the Universal Case Competition and Instructor Advising.

Fraser International College's Tenth Year in Simon Fraser Unversity

Three Ideas One Goal

I am proud and privilege to be amongst the people involved in this partnership. Although I have been with FIC for less than five years but I feel as if I have been here right from the start. Fraser International College has allowed me to explore my capabilities as an educator. My diverse background, experience and teaching skills are appreciated here.

Getting Ready for Presentation

Every time, I step into my classroom, I am being appreciated by my students, peers and administrators. This is a great community to belong to. I have seen students arriving at the steps of the college, lost, nervous and afraid but within a semester here at FIC these same individuals flourished with great dreams and pride. This is a place where we build characters, dreams and possibilities.

As far as I am concern and for most of the faculty and staff of this college, one of the main reason, this FIC-SFU partnership is still strong, friendly and gaining strength is through the collaboration of each and every stakeholder that is directly or indirectly involved in the community.

Universal Case Competition

Initially, the Universal Case Competition was developed for the CAPS510 Capstone Case Competition Course as a platform for the graduate students to practice their newly learned skills in coaching in effective speaking. As we needed participants to get this case competition going, the undergraduates were invited to participate. And that gave the graduate students the opportunity to practice their coaching skills, while the participants competed in a live case competition. That was how it all started, simply by chance.

Best Overall Team Spring 2016

So, since the first PreMasters Program cohort, we have successfully organized and completed a series of four Universal Case Competition. Come this summer, Fraser International College will again be hosting the fifth Universal Case Competition but with a slight change in management. From the initial beginning, we had wanted the Universal Case Competition program to be managed and owned by students, so the change was in the plans.

With a new organizing structure in place, the Universal Case Competition is now a program managed entirely by students through a project manager and a team of volunteers. Overseeing and supporting the program are a faculty member acting as Program Director and a staff member who is the Student Success Manager of FIC. Together, we will have many more Universal Case Competition.

Effective Speaking for The Royal Air Cadet League of Canada, Squadron 754

I was invited to teach a group of Air Cadets in Effective Speaking and without hesitation I accepted the role. I was tasked with eight Cadets between aged twelve and sixteen, in four weeks to turn them to effective speakers. Each week we would have approximately two to three hours to learn and practice.

Squadron 754

During which, I have learned to appreciate the uniqueness of this effective speaking class as it was not easy to teach, although the students were just high school kids. The effective speaking class was so much different from a university level class. There were no tools and props allowed in the effective speaking competition. So, I could not teach the usefulness of tools and props. I am so used to teaching presentation skills using tools such as power point slides and so forth but in this class I am limited to verbal and non-verbal skills. And due to this limitation, critical thinking skills become an important factor. And it was tough to teach critical thinking to least experienced and exposed individuals in that four weeks. Next year, if invited again, I will request for a longer duration.

Ultimately, the cadets that were in the effective speaking class learned valuable speaking skills and enjoyed the lessons. I had a good time and truly enjoyed the teaching and learning from the Cadets in the effective speaking sessions. It was a lot of fun doing it.

Sandwich Shop and a Aquaponic Farm

Smokehouse Sandwich Co.

I started this project about six months ago when I was approached by a good friend to help him with ideas for a formation of the franchise business. Knowing that this was going to be a project that would require many hours of research, I got my graduate students involved. Using the information presented in this project would be an invaluable experience for the students to learn.  So, with permission from the sole business proprietor at that time I created two separate case studies on the existing business. I had my graduate students conduct two feasibility studies of the existing operations of the proposed business. One team of students will study the sandwich shop business and the other team on the operations of the aquaponic farming.

Smokehouse Sandwich Co.

Both the research team and I visited the operations and the place of business a couple of times to collect the appropriate data. Back in class, we discussed about both the businesses. We even invited the friend and the business proprietor to our final presentation where we presented the results and conclusion of our studies. The rest would be up to my friend to decide if it is a feasible business to venture.

Exploring the business of Vending Machines

It started with a visit to the Vancouver Convention Exhibits at Canada Place. I went there with a few friends just to explore business opportunities. Not really with an intention to venture into any business in particular but definitely with an open mind. Of all the exhibits, my curiosity was caught by the vending machine exhibitor. So, I stopped and ask some questions.

Instead of providing me with the answers, I was invited to a business talk happening a few days later at a different location. I know and understand the marketing tactics these people were using. In fact, I teach this in my marketing course. So, I decided to round up some of my buddies and attend the talk. Lets hear them out and experience marketing at work.

After the presentation, we were furnished with some details and data which we could get started with more in-depth research. I concentrated on the financial research and tabulation of forecast proforma budget while someone else does the market research. After getting the tabulated results, we got together again to discuss our next step and share our personal requirements to start this venture.

We met with the vending machine operators several more times but they were unable to satisfy our requirements. In the end, we decided to let it go and did not pursue any further. But we all learned from this exercise and most importantly new respect for each other as friends and business entrepreneurs.