A nerdy entry...

It is 9am on a lazy Sunday morning. I am sure many of us are still snugly rolling around in bed. Ye ke? As for me, I am in an examination hall, conducting the first test of the semester for my postgraduate students taking masters by coursework degree.







The Master of Environmental Engineering and Master of Environmental Management are very popular degrees. Over the years the number of students enrolling each semester have grown by up to 100%. Since there are now close to 50 students enrolled for any particular course, classes are split into two. This means that instead of teaching one class for the Principles of Environmental Engineering course this semester, I am teaching two. By keeping the number of students per course small, we endeavour to maintain the quality of teaching and learning here at the Faculty of Engineering.

It is a good thing that courses are shared by two lecturers according to topics otherwise the workload is quite considerable. Teaching two classes the same topics is not much of a problem. Furthermore, for an 8 hour class conducted on a Sunday for example, lectures are limited to a say a couple of hours only. The rest of the time we act as fascillitators for group active learning; more of a student-centered learning approach. The same applies for a 4 hour class conducted on Saturday afternoons. This means that for a particular weekend, we conduct 12 hours out of the 42 hours required per course per semester. 3 such weekends make up the 36 hours out of the 42 hours, and the additional 6 hours are allocated for tests.

The Faculty of Engineering's Masters by coursework degree is a paid program. This means that lecturers are paid per hour for their service. Just for the info of other young academicians, typical lecturing rates in Malaysia are on average RM200 per hour. I believe that other universities should have similar programs, perhaps even better paying than us. However, it is not just about the money. If you are a young academician wanting the fast track up the ladder, do grab the opportunity to increase the number of courses you teach to strengthen your CV.

The beauty about being in academia is that you are not only working for others, you are working for yourself because everything you do contributes towards strengthening your CV. It is entirely up to you how or even IF you wish to climb the ladder ;)


- A juggling act from my iPad