In November 2022, I was awarded the Nanyang Education Award (School) – a teaching award given to recognize NTU faculty with distinguished teaching achievements. 

Award ceremony photo with NTU President Subra Suresh and Provost Lin San

Teaching statement

2019

August semester

AAL10D Globalization: An Introduction (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer and tutor.

The term ‘globalisation’, having been subject to much use and abuse in both academic and lay discourses, has nowadays become something of an empty buzzword that perhaps obfuscates more than it reveals. This course seeks to provide students with a basic, clear, and relatively comprehensive introduction to the concept. It unpacks globalisation by interrogating its definitions, general theories, and historical/social foundations, before examining in detail a number of key facets to a globalised world, including the global economy, civil society, governance, culture, inequality, migration/mobility. In addition, the course also contextualises students’ learning by making them think about what globalisation means for Singapore and Singaporeans.

January semester

AAL10B Identities in a Diverse World (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer and tutor. (3nd run; course details see below)

MAS981 Critical Thinking and Writing in the Humanities (2nd run; course details see below)

2018

August semester

AAL10D Globalization: Examining Interconnectedness (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer and tutor.

The term “globalisation”, having been subject to much use and abuse in both academic and lay discourses, has nowadays become something of a cliché that perhaps obfuscates more than it reveals. This course seeks to provide students with a basic, clear, and relatively comprehensive introduction to the concept. It unpacks globalisation by interrogating its definitions, general theories, and historical/social foundations, before examining in detail a number of key facets to a globalised world, including the global economy, civil society, governance, culture, everyday life, inequality, migration/mobility, and security. In addition, the course also contextualises students’ learning by making them think about what globalisation means for Singapore and Singaporeans.

MAS947 Sociology of Education (MAHE; Elective course) (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer and tutor.

This course introduces students to key perspectives and themes in the sociology of education. Sociology of education studies education as an integral part of larger social systems and institutions, often with a critical view on the ways in which education is implicated in the relations of power and inequality that traverse these systems and institutions. Major theoretical perspectives covered in this course include the reproduction theories (functionalist, conflict, and resistance perspectives) and the institutional approach. Also examined are various critical approaches hinging on social differences such as culture, power, gender, race/ethnicity, as well as the sociology of curriculum and pedagogy.

January semester

AAL10B Identities in a Diverse World (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer and tutor. (2nd run; course details see below)

MAS981 Critical Thinking and Writing in the Humanities (Masters of Arts in Humanities Education core course) (National Institute of Education, Singapore) This course introduces students to key thinking and writing skills in the humanities and social sciences. These include the skills to critically evaluate scholarly arguments, to critically review and synthesize academic literature, and to formulate research questions and proposals based on literature review. Students will learn and practice these skills through a progressive series of workshops and writing/presentation assignments that build up towards a research proposal.

2017 

December 

QUL511 Sociologies of Governance, Diversity and Globalization for Social Studies Teachers (6-week short course – consultancy for Ministry of Education)

This course is aimed at enhancing PGDE Social Studies (SS) students’ mastery of academic content relevant to the new (2016) SS syllabus. Through an online course platform that facilitates students’ self-directed learning, peer interaction, as well as input and feedback from the course instructor(s), this course exposes students to key concepts, theories, perspectives and debates under the three component issues of the SS syllabus, namely, citizenship/governance, diversity/identity, and globalization/interconnectedness. Under each issue area, students undergo a “learning journey” comprising three progressive “stations”, which help expand and consolidate their knowledge. This course provides students with a solid grounding in relevant academic content so as to better prepare them for the subsequent PGDE training as well as SS teaching in schools.

August semester

AAL10D Globalization: Examining Interconnectedness (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Course coordinator, Lecturer/tutor

This is a beginner’s course on globalization. The first half of the course discusses general questions such as what globalization is; what has recently happened to it / what is happening to it now; where it is headed; how it works in terms of ideas/ideology, economy, and governance; how it doesn’t work and how it has been resisted so far. The second half of the course looks into the implications of globalization for specific issues such as culture/civilization/religion, migration/citizenship/identity, and education.

January semester

AAL10B Identities in a Diverse World (National Institute of Education, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer and tutor.

This course aims to provide students with grounding in different aspects of living in a diverse world, with specific focus on the issue of identity / identities. As societies become increasingly diverse due to globalization and migration, the conditions, factors and experiences that go towards shaping an individual’s personal, local, national, regional and international identities are thus crucial in providing individuals with the ability to negotiate within such diversity. This course will thus examine how identities are formed and molded through culture, heritage, migration, prejudices and stereotypes, state policies of integration and assimilation in the national, regional and global contexts.

HS2015 Education and Society (Division of Sociology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer and tutor

This course introduces students to key perspectives and themes in the sociology of education. Sociology of education studies education as an integral part of larger social systems and institutions, often with a critical view on the ways in which education is implicated in the relations of power and inequality that traverse these systems and institutions. Theoretical perspectives covered in this course include the functionalist, the Marxist/Marxian, and various other critical perspectives hinging on social differences such as culture, power, gender, race/ethnicity. Furthermore, important themes such as neoliberal-ism/ization, globalization and inter-/trans-national mobility, curriculum, critical pedagogy and alternative education, are also examined.

2016

HS8009. Understanding China Today.  (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer.

This course aims to provide the students with a comprehensive introduction to contemporary China from political, social, and cultural perspectives. China’s socio-political trajectory over the 20^th Century will be discussed first to provide a historical context, before the students are introduced to a range of topics pertaining to China today, including rural-urban divide, domestic migration, family, work and employment, education, ethnic politics/policy, religion, civil society and international relations. Documentary videos will be used throughout the course to make for a lively learning experience.

2015

Understanding China Today (HS8009, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) Course coordinator/lecturer

This course aims to provide the students with a comprehensive introduction to contemporary China from political, social, and cultural perspectives. China’s socio-political trajectory over the 20^th Century, especially during the Republican, Maoist, and early-Reform eras, will be first discussed to provide a historical context, before the students are introduced to a range of topics pertaining to China today, including rural-urban divide, domestic migration, work and employment, education, ethnic politics, religion, civil society and so forth. Documentary videos will be used throughout the course to make for a lively learning experience, and students will form small groups to make short in-class presentations about specific topics of their choosing.

2014

Contemporary Social Theory (HS301/3001, Division of Sociology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) Course tutor

2013

Introduction to the Anthropology of Education (Sarah Lawrence Programme, Wadham College, Oxford; Course designer and tutor)