Roughly 3 weeks ago, I wrote a post entitled “No easy life in Nottingham” with the sole purpose of keeping my friends informed about life in the University of Nottingham. I chose to tell about academic life here, so naturally my topic revolves around classes and lecturers. Because my friends are currently pursuing their studies taking different routes like Form 6, A-Levels and Foundation, I felt that it was informative to include comparisons between here and elsewhere.
On Thursday, I was surprised that my lecturer for the Light, Waves and Electron module, Dr. Khiew, left some comments in my Shoutbox regarding what I’ve written in that post.
PSkhiew Thanks for the comment. I understand that you are one of most smart student I have and seems like the module is abit easy for you...
PSkhiew Please remember that we need to deal with many types of students that came in with different entry qualification.
PSkhiew Hence, the structures of "A" modules have been designed that they only cover revision on the subjects you have learned in SPM or O-level.
PSkhiew Correct, I seldom discuss about the formula derivation during my class.
PSkhiew This is due to the reason that engineering and physics are two different contexts eventhough they are inter-related to each other.
PSkhiew Engineering is the extension of the fundamental theories to the application.
PSkhiew You are an engineering student, we should train you to use equations to solve research problem.
PSkhiew Due to the time constraint in the class, instead of using the limited time for formula derivation,
PSkhiew I would rather to use it for explaining more on solving problem using the equation/formula.
PSkhiew Mr. Wee is your physics lecturer, the way of teaching physics of course will be abit different compare to mine.
PSkhiew Nevertheless, if you believe that formula derivation is important and you are interested to learn about it,
PSkhiew I would be happy to have the discussion with you after the class.
Firstly, to Dr. Khiew. I would like to thank him for spending time reading my blog, commenting, and saying that it’s OK to have a discussion with me after class. I truly appreciate that. Regarding his comments, I would like to clarify that what I’d written was not a formal complain – it was just a way of me informing readers that the situation here it’s like that and what I think about it – whether it’s a good or bad thing, I leave it up to them to decide. The issue of derivation of formulas may be trivial to many; I brought up this issue only because I feel that the derivation of formulas is an important part in learning Physics. Some may agree and some may not. I don’t blame Dr. Khiew for not teaching derivations, since he already gave his reasons about time constrain during class. In my blog post I’m actually telling my friends that in Form 6 or A-Levels that there is more depth in subject matter compared to Foundation here. As for his comment about me finding his module easy, I would like to say that each module has its own challenges; I wouldn’t dare to say that I know everything about Light, Waves and Electrons. I’m still in the process of learning, and I’m fortunate to have Dr. Khiew as my lecturer because he can explain the subject matter well, hence I find it easy to understand.
Secondly, my post dated August 1 comes at a time when I’m still adjusting to life here in Nottingham. Like they say, the grass is always greener on the other side. Things may have changed, and my thoughts and opinions may be different now. I’m sorry if any other lecturer became the victim of my excessive comparison between here and elsewhere. Like what Dr. Khiew mentioned, each lecturer has his/her own teaching style, so he/she cannot satisfy the needs of everybody. I would cooperate with any lecturer regardless of my personal opinion towards that person. All in all, I’m generally quite satisfied with the quality of teaching here in Nottingham and have no intention to leave this place until I get my degree.
Lastly, I would like to stress that I’m a person that deals with issues, and I have nothing personal against anybody unless somebody gets personal with me – and I really don’t want that to happen.
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