3. THE ROLE OF A PROFESSOR
Still steadily running the professorial marathon, Bernard’s curriculum vitae already contains much evidence of success in all three areas that constitute his almost accidentally chosen profession. A
Reflection 20: What do you think should be included in and excluded from a list of indicators showing success in research, teaching, and service?
In 2002, Bernard won the prestigious NUS Young Researcher Award. Over the years, he has published numerous articles in leading international journals and conference proceedings. He now sits on the editorial boards of a number of journals. He has also served as Distinguished Honorary Professor at Fudan University in China and Guest Professor of Renmin University, also in China.
In 2004, Bernard won the prestigious NUS Outstanding Educator Award. Since 2009, he has been a Fellow of the NUS Teaching Academy.
Reflection 21: Are you aware of the Teaching Academy at NUS and its various activities? What would you like the Teaching Academy to do for you?
To improve his own teaching, Bernard made it a point to learn from his colleagues who had done well in teaching by observing them in action. For instance, he saw how a colleague used recent industry examples to illustrate concepts and ideas in class. To illustrate a change in software development paradigm, the colleague discussed new software engineering approaches that involved assembling components rather than building systems from scratch. Bernard also saw how another colleague used recent newspaper articles to reinforce salient points that were made in class. The colleague emphasized the importance of IT security, for example, by drawing attention to newspapers articles about the prevalence of IT fraud due to a lack of IT security. Bernard also noted the innovative ways developed by his colleagues to encourage class participation in higher-level modules. In one class, for example, students were organized into groups that debated with each other on issues that could be understood from multiple perspectives. In this way, the complexity of such issues could be foregrounded. Bernard has incorporated several of these ideas into his own teaching practice.
Reflection 22: Have you observed your colleagues in the classroom? Have you been observed? If you think it is valuable, what can be done to ensure that, outside or through formal teaching assessment mechanisms, peer observation is productively conducted and more widely practised at NUS?
In the earlier years, he used to build his confidence by practising in front of the mirror.
Reflection 23: Can you share any personal ‘tricks’ that you do to build your confidence for teaching?
Bernard’s teaching is characterized by the use of real-life cases to provide background information for student assignments.
Reflection 24: Case study methods of teaching are very often used in Business and Public Policy schools. And there are many ways of using cases, including role-play activities. Have you used them in your own teaching? How can they be most productively used? The NUS Teaching Academy’s Academic Journeys series of case studies, of which this is the second, is aimed at stimulating individual reflection and group discussion. From the list of reflection questions, facilitators can select those questions that are relevant to the topic of interest and generate discussion and other activities from them. What other ways can case studies like these be used?
He credits many of his teaching ideas to the innovative and forward-looking methods he observed while at Stanford University. He notes that more funding should be allocated in NUS towards supporting educational experimentation.
Reflection 25: Do you agree that there is inadequate support for pedagogical experimentation at NUS? If you think it is important, how can experimentation be encouraged? What are some of the problems with experimentation that educators need to be aware of?
In 2009, Bernard was appointed an Associate Provost at the university, overseeing undergraduate education. Over the years, he has also sat on a number of high-level university committees. Three years after NUS hired him as a faculty member, he became Assistant Dean of the School of Computing for two years, and subsequently head of the Department of Information Systems for six. Outside of NUS, Bernard has served on the boards or committees of a number of professional associations and educational institutions. He has also served on a number of important national-level committees. Looking back, Bernard wonders if he might have taken on too many appointments at an early stage in his career. He was encouraged to take up these appointments not for any prestige, but because he was viewed as someone who enjoyed working with people. Through such leadership positions, he could also help to improve the profile of his department and raise necessary funds for student prizes and bursaries. Everything has worked out well so far in his career marathon. But if he had to do it all again, he might just wait a few years before saying yes to some of these service responsibilities. In particular, he might not have agreed to be an Assistant Dean and to chair his department’s Search Committee at the point in his career when he was a newly promoted but still untenured Associate Professor. At that time, the promotion and tenure process at NUS was not as rigorous as it is today and so there was always a strong sense of uncertainty about the outcomes. Thankfully, Bernard gained tenure six months after taking up these roles.
Reflection 26: Do you think younger faculty should be given such heavy responsibilities and leadership positions at the early stages of their careers?
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