Congratulations to Professor Lawrence Loh (Department of Strategy & Policy), Associate Professor Zhang Weina (Department of Finance), Senior Lecturer Jo Seung-Gyu (Department of Strategy & Policy) and Senior Lecturer Wu Pei Chuan (Department of Management & Organisation) for winning the Annual Teaching Excellence Award (ATEA) at the 2022 University Teaching Award.
This is Weina’s second ATEA win, while the rest are receiving the award for the first time. The ATEA honours our educators whose dedication has shaped their students’ intellectual and personal growth.
So what is their formula for successful teaching? BIZBeat spoke to them to find out more.
Q: What’s your teaching philosophy?
Weina: As a tertiary educator in finance, I always feel the responsibility of preparing our students to be job-ready for a fast-changing financial sector. Therefore, when I saw increasing market demand for sustainable and green finance talents in Singapore and Asia a few years ago, I took the initiative to curate and launch brand new modules in the sustainable and green finance for undergraduates and master students. I aim to contribute to preparing and empowering a new generation of sustainable finance talents and experts.
Lawrence: Teaching is a passion and not a duty. It is a most fundamental raison d’être for a university and its faculty. It has to revolve around the learner – the student – for which the strongest emphasis must be placed to achieve the requisite outcomes. Indeed, there is no teaching if there is no student.
Pei Chuan: My overarching teaching philosophy is to enhance students’ learning through intentionally-designed pedagogical activities that ignite their desire to acquire and apply knowledge and stretch their thinking skills.
Seung-Gyu: While it is important for the instructor to display a thorough command of the subject, meaningful learning would take place where there is passion and motivation. Therefore, it is imperative that students are challenged, motivated, and intellectually pushed out in a learning environment in which both the instructor and the students accept mutual responsibility and commitment.
Q: How do you keep the students engaged?
Weina: Given the fast changing nature of sustainable and green finance in Asia, there is no standard textbooks or teaching materials. Hence, I would take a lot of time to prepare the latest business examples, academic research and industry research findings to share with my students in class. Students often got excited when I shared my personal learning experience through the interaction with business managers, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders who are providing sustainable business solutions. I also bring in external partners to provide my students with the opportunity to work on real-world problems in sustainable finance. Such exposure allows my students to build strong team work and to foster their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Lawrence: To engage my students, especially given the rapidly changing business world, I encourage my students to keep up with the latest beyond the published cases, articles and textbooks. I have put a strong focus on current affairs in Singapore, Asia and the world. I have also employed action-learning projects that encourage students to attain the latest perspectives of actual companies or industries.
Pei Chuan: I deliberately create a conducive learning environment where students are encouraged to ask questions and engage in deep discussions. I treat everyone equally, deal with all learners respectfully, and urge students to do the same. In addition, students participate in a series of self-awareness tests throughout the semester to learn about themselves.
Seung-Gyu: I believe that a friendly, open, relaxed atmosphere is essential for effective learning. Therefore, I maintain a close relationship with my students and make myself approachable in and out of the classroom. They know questions and opinions are encouraged, valued, and respected.
Q: What’s the most important thing you would say that a teacher needs to have?
Weina: I believe that staying relevant is an important quality every tertiary educator should have. After that, we can equip and empower our students with the most relevant knowledge and skillset the job market needs. Moreover, as the world is changing fast, I believe that cultivating our students with an inquisitive mind and forming lifelong learning habits will help them make steady and consistent progress in their career life after graduation.
Lawrence: I think a teacher has to stay grounded in the process – the teacher applies a more inductive approach where lessons are constructed bottom-up from real-world cases, and often haphazard ambiguous, information in business developments. Building narratives in the classroom deepens the learning and enhances student memory of the lessons.
Pei Chuan: As an educator, students’ interests and learning processes and outcomes are important to me. Continuous learning is essential for a teacher. My continuous learning spirit pushes me to share my teaching and learning experiences with colleagues worldwide. I aim to make my teaching and learning experiences visible and relevant.
Seung-Gyu: It is important to reiterate the core concepts while allowing students to self-appreciate how these concepts animate the relevant topics and issues. In this respect, I believe that effective teaching can only occur when the classroom is viewed as the starting point for an intellectual endeavour pursued jointly by the instructor and students that leads to an impactful journey.
