TEACHING PORTFOLIO

9/30/20

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Dr Ramesh K S @ Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan Senior Lecturer, Information Systems Department, Faculty of Computing UTM TOWARDS IDEATION & EXECUTION EXCELLENCE – IE2

This document is meant to communicate several principal elements within a Teaching Portfolio. These include Teaching Responsibilities, Teaching Philosophy, Teaching Methodology, Efforts to Improve Teaching, Evaluation of Teaching, Products of Teaching, Teaching Challenges and Teaching Goal. The reason to communicate is crucial towards Reflection of Ideation-Execution (Muhasabah Idea-Perlaksanaan)

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TEACHING PORTFOLIO D R R A M E S H K S @ M O H D Z A I D I A B D R O Z A N S E N I O R L E C T U R E R , I N F O R M A T I O N S Y S T E M S D E P A R T M E N T , F A C U L T Y O F C O M P U T I N G U T M T O W A R D S I D E A T I O N & E X E C U T I O N E X C E L L E N C E – I E 2

TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES

Since I entered the academic world, I knew that I will be facing new and compelling challenges.

Due to my multidisciplinary jobs, tasks & working environment, which I have had before, it

seems to me that I will have to try and learn vast different knowledge and to also apply

unconventional style of instruction in conveying knowledge contents for all teaching

assignments.

My teaching responsibilities in UTM started in the II semester, session 2002/2003, after I

reported duty as a lecturer on 16 September 2002. My first assignment was for undergraduate

class, entitled Keusahawanan Teknologi Maklumat (SCM3463), offered by the Faculty of

Computer Science & Information Systems (currently known as Faculty of Computing) as

compulsory course. This subject has multiple folds of knowledge and skills that are needed to

be learnt by students. As the name suggest, this subject offers several multidisciplinary skills

which are needed for the development of Information Technology Entrepreneurs.

As my faculty is implementing Mentor-Mentee programs under the leadership of our dean, I was

also assigned a teaching task for postgraduate subject. Being a non-Graduate Faculty, I was

actually not qualified to be teaching Masters’ students on my own; however under this Mentor-

Mentee program, I had the golden chance to be working with a Professor to teach IT Project

Management (MCM1262). The class was offered every semesters and I had the chance to

experience ‘team teaching” with my mentor for two semesters, which was until the semester II

of 2003/2004 session.

Due to the burning desire and dream to become a Doctorate, I had completed all the pre-PhD

study leave requirements in just one year since I joined UTM. These include, PhD Research

Proposal, BTN Kenegaraan, IELTS and others. The only item left un-ticked was- Supervisor. I

was truly serious towards establishing a PhD Supervisor even if I had to invest thousands of

Ringgit of my hard earned money. A very successful Indonesian entrepreneur once voiced

me…

…means having NO MONEY is NO BIG DEAL, having NO INITIATIVE is HUGE PROBLEM.

This has inspired and rendered me to make a visit to Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT)

in Japan with the intention to get a PhD supervisor through face to face discussion. It was

indeed a very unconventional style to actually make a visit oversea and propose an idea to a

professor that I have never met before. As far as I know, it is very common among my

colleague to establish connection just via emails and sometimes phone calls. Alhamdulillah,

with guidance and lots of feedbacks, I was given a few days to summarize my 47 pages long

proposal to be 80% shorter. Finally, after meeting him again in two days, he agreed to let me

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proceed with the topic and offered a position as a visiting researcher in NUT under the Japan

Science & Technology (JST) agency grant. With the good news, UTM allowed me to further my

PhD in parallel with my visiting researcher position initiated June 2004. In December 2007, I

successfully graduated and came back to UTM to resume with my teaching and research tasks.

Interestingly, when I arrive UTM, I was reappointed as the program coordinator for a special

MARA-UTM programme, the Master of Science (IT Entrepreneurship). It was actually my

previous task before I left for my PhD, and now I was given the same assignment by my Dean

when I came back to UTM. I devoted most of my time on this programme as I have full

confidence that the product of this programme will be Malaysian outstanding Technopreneurs.

In June 2009, I was appointed as the Head of Department of Information Systems. The tenure

was for two years. At that time, there were lots of new programs and the Malaysian Ministry of

Education (formerly Ministry of Higher Education) had introduced many new procedures to

improve the quality of programs, either from content, delivery, evaluation and reportings.

In June 2011, my tenure as Head of Department was extended for another term. However, in

October 2012, I ended my service due to the restructuring of FSKSM into FC and becoming just

three departments compared to five, plus my high interest in coordinating IT Entrepreneurship

program. I was then reassigned as the program coordinator for Master of Science (IT

Entrepreneurship) until July 2013.

Currently, I am holding the post of a Manager in UTM Technology Entrepreneurship Centre

(UTMTEC) since 15 July 2013. UTMTEC has just been established May 2013, which is a centre

reporting directly to the UTM Vice Chancellor. We are focusing on becoming a One Stop Centre

for cultivating and nurturing Entrepreneurial Mind setting and developing Entrepreneurs among

UTM staff and students.

The journey in UTMTEC is truly challenging but stimulating, the nature of Academic/a

development is very much different compare to Entrepreneurial Mindsets and/or Entrepreneurs

development. However, this has really opened up my Heart, Mind & Soul towards embracing

the two worlds.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Again, being exposed to multidisciplinary nature of the academic,

professional & entrepreneurial world, I forever will have faith to the

phrase “learning by doing”. Only ACTION is the real measure of

Intelligence! Here I practice the four action based steps, those are

the Tell, Show, Try, Do. Students (I rather use the word mentee),

have better learning retention when they are exposed and trained

through ACTION based principles.

I am preparing my mentee to be in control of their life situation when

they are in the real world right after their graduation. I belief that

there are NO practical reason to not prepare them for this!

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“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for

life”

From the proverb, it can be understood that, we could not actually help a person by providing

him food every day, however, by teaching a person to hunt for food, he will actually bring

benefit for his whole life. The concept of teaching a person to hunt for food is actually

comprised the values of providing them with the right attitude, skills and knowledge for the sake

of their LIFE…and we as their teachers would not be always there when they need us!

Hardships gained through my life experience have always prompted me to be a practical

person. As for that, I will always push myself to try up and get hands-on experience for any task

I do. I remain to believe that one person’s experience would turn to be his greatest teacher.

When I apply this to teaching, I always emphasize on the importance of experiential and

experimental approach.

Ideation and Execution are two separate phenomenons. Ideas are merely assumption, so it

must be tested and validated. Ideation normally plays around the question of WHY?. The game

of Execution are focusing on How question? Both are important, so good foundation for

business execution that moves from strategizing to executing is a must!

Although much have been said about outcome based approach, still the essence and long term

effect of such approach always plays around the “how” it can be achieved. “How”, involves the

process of doing it. Anyhow, my faith and believe on the importance of process based approach

when coupled with short-term assessment is extremely strong. Smaller milestone contributes to

much smaller loose of direction. As such, students will not be adrift far from course of the

outcome.

When no short-term assessment is practiced, students are always assumed to understand

everything until we know it is a little bit too late. “If you understand everything, you must be

misinformed”, (a Japanese proverb). That is my everyday expression, which I convey every

time at the end of my class activities.

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There are FIVE principles guiding me towards sustaining my Teaching Philosophy;

1. Practice GOOD Habit- Health MUST be optimum!

This is also my whole family principle and Alhamdulillah with patience and Istiqamah. It has

proven to build our habits.

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2. Must have the WHY and the DREAM!

I believe that everyone is intelligent, however the only feature that distinguishes them is their

DRIVE and this DRIVE is unleashed through answering

the WHY and

having clear

DREAM.

Every student who

sits for my class

must complete their

own Dream Board

which consists of HAVE, GIVE, DO and BECOME. They

have to fill this up with highest sincerity to themselves.

And of course, I have my own Dream Board and I revisits

on its elements every 90 days.

3. Do your HOMEWORK to excel your JOB!

It is very common to spend more time to prepare a task. This is a preparation for the real job or

task. However, it is also very important to understand that people judge or value our job and not

our homework. Better job can be achieved through proper homework. So, must always do the

right type of homework before going to a classroom.

Apa yang

anda ingin

MILIKI.

What you want

to HAVE.

Apa yang anda

ingin

SUMBANGKAN.

What you want

to GIVE.

Apa yang

anda ingin

BUAT.

What you want

to DO.

Apa yang anda

ingin JADI.

What you want

to BECOME.

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4. FORMAL Education will make you a living; SELF Education will make you a

FORTUNE!

Life skills are normally not covered in Formal education type, however there are great

knowledge and skills that are achievable only through own Self education. This shows why it is

really of great importance making life-long learning a habit. Life-long learning habit is possible if

we are to have the Half Glass attitude. Like what Steve Jobs say…Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish!

Self-Education would assist me to move from the state that…

“There are things I don’t know I don’t know” to “There are things I know I don’t know” to “There

are things I know I know”.

This could give me better recognition of myself and also not to forget “There are things I don’t

know I know”. This reminds me to always “Work harder on myself than any other things”

I personally belief that having and additional self-education and informal education will be very

useful. As for that I have several professional certificates obtained and special training

attended:-

i) Project Management PRINCE2TM

Registered (http://www.apmg-international.com/SCRQuery.aspx?exam=p2)

a. Foundation (14 Mar 2008, REG: P2R/275163) b. Practitioner (19 Mar 2008, REG: P2R/275607)

ii) Microsoft ® Certified Technology Specialist (https://www.microsoft.com/learning/members/en/us/mcp/mcp-default.aspx)

a. Microsoft Office Project 2007: Managing Projects (27 May 2010, MCID: 7582885) iii) OBASHI

TM Registered- Foundation (22 Mar 2012, REG: OB/MY000027)

(http://www.apmg-international.com/SCRQuery.aspx?exam=p2)

iv) Certificate of Business and Systems Analysis - MNCC (22 Mar 2012) v) Radio Amateur License Holder (19 Aug 2009, Callsign: 9W2DZD) (http://www.skmm.gov.my/link_file/registers1/aa.asp?cc=89859249004646868654&vl=&aa=AA

Radio&fpg=283)

vi) TRIZ- Level 1 (2 Nov 2010) vii) Business Model Generation Master Class Participant, led by Alexander Osterwalder

December 2013, 02-03 viii) Wellness and Positive Mindset Coach.

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5. REWARD yourself after achieving your GOAL

Who else will reward you, unless yourself. For this purpose, I would list down my goal, plan the

execution and work hard for it. Travelling has been

my passion; however it involves lots investment of

time and money. However, I have prove to myself

that with proper idea and execution of any tasks at

hand would achieve success. What I did

later…reward myself and my family by travelling to

many of these countries.

1. Singapore (many times)

2. Thailand (May 2011, June 2013, Sept 2013)

3. Korea (Sept 2011)

4. Italy (March 2012)

5. Slovenia (April 2012)

6. India (May 2012)

7. Hong Kong (Sept 2012, Sept 2014)

8. Macau (Sept 2012, Sept 2014)

9. New Zealand (Feb 2013, Nov 2013)

10. Japan (April 2014, March 2015-Planned)

11. Germany, Austria, Switzerland & Italy(June 2015-Planned)

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TEACHING METHODOLOGY

I am a true believer that, one person’s experience would always turn to be his greatest teacher.

When I apply this to teaching, I always emphasize on the importance of experiential and

experimental approach.

What is the use of knowledge if it is kept unused in our mind? As for that, the knowledge that is

within a person’s mind must be channeled to others via socialization. As what they will face

after graduation is not for any person that prefers isolation, so does the way they challenge

themselves to learn among them.

Cooperative learning plays an important role in formal and in-formal education. This is due to

the need for more collaborative learning for activities performed in groups whether in a

classroom and outside. One main reason for such valuable method is towards deep interaction,

particularly for students with heterogeneous knowledge and skills.

As I have more classes for postgraduate students (Master), I must always keep in mind that

every each of the master students has their own attitude, skills and knowledge that illustrates

their wide range of strength for a specific area of interest. When cooperative and collaborative

learning is executed, intense interactions help to increase true learning among different

background of students. This is where I have active learning, which involves workshop type

activities, such as games, dialogue and forums with practitioner. Analyzing and getting to know

about tools are among the activities practiced in my classes; this includes Idea Generation,

Business Model Canvas, Pitching techniques, Project Execution tools and lots more. Students

will have more interest in learning as long as they understood the purpose of a specific task. I

always say to my students, “The results of our activities are serious, but we conduct it in a

challenging yet very enjoyable manner”.

Since the Faculty of Computing’s Mentor-mentee program for postgraduate teaching was a

positive experience for me (year 2002-2004), I am always looking forward for cooperative team

teaching for my master students. We even have successful entrepreneurs that offer priceless

review and case studies on their experiences on session we called “Business Chat/Cafe”.

These have produced more opportunities for networking, trending, ideation, reflection,

monitoring and assessment.

EFFORTS TO IMPROVE TEACHING

The biggest room in this world is the room for improvement. With the main goal is to create

Entrepreneurial Mind Set and producing entrepreneurs, the approach and its effort to improve

teaching are unlikely to be the same like other purely academic subjects. As for that, improving

teaching is geared towards conveying and facilitating knowledge which are useful and realistic,

rather than idealistic.

Teaching with Entrepreneurial approach has always been very challenging. For the students,

classroom and enterprising/business opportunity are sometimes seen as conflict. Therefore, it

is a big responsibility to clearly explain what it means by Entrepreneurial and what it means by

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Entrepreneurship. Although, I have been supporting them to be involved in self education and

street smarting, still they cannot forget the importance of formal education by attending classes.

Priority, which is not seriously set by students, will often always leave them loose focus. I have

to be their source of motivation, so that they will not be off course and always be on track.

EVALUATION OF TEACHING

I usually feel great when I successfully completed a lecture for a full 50 minutes. Contradictory,

the great feeling will turn to be miserable, when my students did not do well in their interim or

milestone assessment. I started to realize that I was the only person in the class who

understood about the subject matter and my students were actually confused.

Since that, gradually I tried to improve my teaching, by focusing more activities done by

students. I was feeling guilty at first, but when my students started to enjoy it, I am relieved. The

guilty feeling was due to the feeling that I am only listening to them without giving my lecture

most of the time. Alhamdulillah, in many semesters later, I managed to achieve good points

(from student evaluation) for teaching postgraduate subject (IT Project Management). I feel

confident that activities, such as simulation from Cases/ Scenarios, games, skills in using and

applying tools are very helpful to them, as mature students.

I have also received feedbacks on the delivery of my lecture; many students said that I am a

fast speaker. So they could not understand well, “Too fast when delivering in Malay”. As it is

quite difficult for me to change, I choose to use English instead. With English, I am able to

convey better points to these students.

With never ending continuous improvement, I had better feedbacks from students. I realized

this after implementing Action Based, Practitioners involved, and Self-education through

certifications, etc. I have better control of myself in order to deliver and facilitate students’

experiential learning.

PRODUCTS OF TEACHING

As it is important to have milestones for me and my students, several products or deliveries are

nurtured and developed within the paths of our programs. This has always been the trigger

towards my outcome. Some explicit outcomes of this subject are, Ideation and Pitching and

Innovation Plans. This document is important in order to prove that the students are able to

communicate effectively their ideas through writing. This includes, value proposition,

competitive analysis and analyzing gaps and opportunities in business.

Another initiative was to develop Entrepreneurial Project Managers through inculcating

Entrepreneurial skills within Information Technology Project Management course for

Postgraduate Students. Since the past 6 semesters, the Faculty of Computing has improved

the practicability of MCM1263: IT Project Management course by introducing hands-on mode

known as Entrepreneurial Approach in Project Management. Students are required to achieve

net profit of RM500 per group (Sem 2, 2011/2012-RM4315.00 & Sem 1, 2012/2013-

RM2883.90) and RM750 per group (Sem 2, 2012/2013-RM9295.32) based on their selected

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ideation and project execution. Up to the third semester, different batch of students have

managed to achieve net profit of RM16494.22. Students were happy with the project outcome

of their IT Product or Services. The entrepreneurial approach involves Idea Generation,

Opportunity Recognition, Market Study and project implementation engaged with real clients

whether inside or outside of UTM.

TEACHING GOAL

Having developed appropriate milestones are indeed a good habit in measuring progress and

would be a driving force to achieve my target.

My short-term goal, which is within 6 months, is to be able to lead students in becoming

entrepreneurial IT Project Managers and better entrepreneurs in crystallizing their ideas into

viable business proposition that are suitable for venturing.

My mid-term goal is to be able to lead students to create and develop highly innovative IT

products that can be turned into sustainable and successful business. This goal should be

reached in two years’ time.

My long-term goal, which should be achieved in 10 years, is to be able to initiate and develop

an organization or Institution to spearhead the development of Technopreneurs. This could

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initiate a proper focal point for research, development and commercialization of high-end

technology based product.

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