Dr Lee Kim Seng is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He teaches second-year ME undergraduates Engineering Visualization & Modeling. A/P Lee also teaches Manufacturing and Automation elective modules Design for Manufacturing & Assembly and Automation in Manufacturing for ME and Bachelor of Technology senior undergraduates. At postgraduate level, he teaches Metal Forming Technology.

He uses IVLE intensively for the modules he teaches and has been doing so since 1999. His interests revolve around exploring and using the latest IT technology to improve his pedagogical methodology and to improve teaching resource management.

A/P Lee has been conferred numerous awards by the Faculty of Engineering in recognition of his innovative contributions in e-education. These include the Teaching Commendation Award (ME) and the Innovative Teaching Award (Gold) in 1999/2000 and 2001/2002 respectively. In 2002/2003, he was awarded the Commendation Award (B. Tech) and the Honours Award (Graduate). Recently, he clinched the Commendation Award (ME) for 2003/2004.

His hobbies outside teaching and research include traveling and gardening.

Q. How did you get to know about IVLE?
I got to know about IVLE when it was introduced to the staff some years ago. That is when I started to explore the different functions and tools available in IVLE to see how they could be used for my teaching.

Q. What prompted you to use IVLE?
It is a fact that technology is moving very fast, and traditional teaching methodology using transparencies and blackboards no longer appeals to the newer generation of students. Also, the number of students has been increasing over the years. To be able to stimulate their interest and effectively transmit information to them, there is a need to find new tools that can manage content, time and users. Here in NUS, IVLE answers my call.

Q. How do you use IVLE?
There are many IVLE tools I use for the modules I teach:
1) Announcement
I find the SMS announcement function useful when I need to remind the students there is an upcoming quiz. One student gets the SMS on his/her handphone and he/she spreads the message much faster to his/her peers than it takes for me to inform them via other methods. Right now, 138 out of 379 students in my year two module subscribe to the SMS announcement service. I also use the service when I need to inform them of newly uploaded exercises, tutorials or other materials.

2) Module webpage
The module webpage is handy. I use it to inform students about the module description, syllabus and required reading. I have linked to my personal homepage – this can be done easily – within the module webpage so students can easily access further module information via IVLE.

3) Forum
This tool is an essential component of any module because some students are bound to have queries as they revise. Lecturers cannot be perpetually online to answer students’ queries. Instead, I tap the students’ helpfulness, particularly the better ones. They can discuss these queries in the forum, and most of the time, the problems are solved before I get to answer them. Besides getting quick responses to questions, the forum greatly increases student interaction.

4) Workbin
This tool is perhaps the most important for me. I have created a number of workbins and classified them according to class and tutorial groups. The entire class has access to class workbins whereas tutorial groups only have access to their respective group workbins.

This can easily be set up, by allowing access to a selected group of people. Within the workbin, I can easily set up various assignment submission folders with allocated opening and closing dates and times. This way, students have to submit their work by the deadline. I do not need extra resources to collect assignments from them. Additionally, I upload my lecture notes and tutorial questions to the class workbin and students can download them at their leisure. This saves me the time and effort of having to make hardcopies for all students, especially since I have a large class.

5) Multimedia
The multimedia tool on IVLE allows me to upload my videos for web streaming. This section includes my videos, webcast lectures and Breeze presentations. Students can easily access them from home as most of them possess broadband Internet connections. Thus, students can revise at their own time and pace.

6) Assessment
I find the assessment tool particularly effective when having to assess a large group of students. Test duration and schedule, and students’ integrity are the main issues where assessments are involved. The assessment tool allows me to control the quizzes' timing. Students have to complete the assessment within the stipulated time. To prevent students from informing their peers what questions are in the quiz, the questions are randomly selected from a large, pre-prepared question bank. To prevent cheating, the answer options are also set randomly.

There are various questions types that I choose from. I use the multiple-choice type very often. At the end of the quiz, all student submissions are marked automatically and their marks computed and ranked accordingly. As an educator, this takes a large burden off me.

7) Class management
This tool is essential because I teach a large class. It allows me to split my class into tutorial groups. I allow my students to sign up for their choice of groups via this system. To avoid having large tutorial groups, I set the class size limit using this tool.

8) Lesson plan
I use the lesson plan section to allow my students to prepare for lessons arising in the following weeks. It allows me to list the learning resources my students are required to access for any lecture or tutorial. Learning resources in the form of lecture notes, animations, videos and discussion forums provide students with a basic understanding of the subject prior to attending the lectures and tutorials.

Q. Would you consider IVLE easy to use?
Yes, IVLE is very easy to use.

The user interface is easy to comprehend. The various tools, modules and setups are arranged in their intuitive categories and thus are easy to find.

Understandably, sometimes there are bugs in IVLE, but the CIT staff responds very well to emergency phone calls and emails. Any problems I encountered using IVLE were solved almost instantaneously. Using IVLE is a not only a breeze, it is also stressless and painless.

Q. Did using IVLE change your teaching style?
I would not say that IVLE has changed my teaching style drastically. Rather, I consider IVLE a tool that enhances my teaching style. With IVLE, it is easy to implement a quiz for my class of over 400 students at anytime. Before IVLE, this task was difficult to accomplish in short notice. The workbin allows me to easily administer student assignment submissions without having to worry about the logistics of managing the submission deadlines.

I strongly believe in peer-assistance, where better students help others who are not up to speed. The forum facilitates this, allowing the better students and myself to collectively discuss and solve students’ queries. By using IVLE to help manage most of my teaching tasks, I free up time that can be devoted to improving my lecture presentations and creating more animations for my e-learning courseware.

Q. Any response from your students?
There are many responses from my students obtained from their feedback on my teaching. Below are some of the responses over the years:

• He always tries to answer all our queries within the shortest time and is a very IT-based person.
• Unique teaching method incorporating videos … makes it more interesting.
• He is able to use IT to present his lecture effectively.
• Good websites. Spends considerable effort to use the website as platform to generate interest and understanding.
• He puts in effort to ensure that we have additional resources so that we can strengthen whatever we have learnt in class. In making a lot of lessons online, we can re-learn from home.
• He is very tech-savvy and always willing to enhance his course with technology.
• A lot of information put up on the IVLE where we can access and learn from. Some of the flash programs are very useful and greatly enhance our thinking.
• He has a very good teaching approach in all directions with a very well setup e-learning centre.
• Gives a lot of pictures, videos and animation for illustration purposes.
• Good use of IT, by putting the lecture notes up in the IVLE, it allows access at the convenience of the students.
• Is very approachable and keeps in constant contact with student via email, SMS or IVLE announcements.

Q. Do you use any other resources to facilitate learning?
Besides using IVLE to manage my teaching resources and students, I have explored other areas to enhance my teaching. Most of my modules involve a lot of visualization skills in order for my students to understand and learn concepts. Thus, I use several animation tools such as Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Director and eDrawings to create animations for most of my modules. These animations have been included as part of my e-learning teaching package.

Q. Is there a need for such a system like IVLE?
To be able to manage a large quantity of students and other teaching resources, it is vital to have a system like IVLE for teaching staff. It dramatically lightens our burden and gives us fewer things to worry about. I give IVLE two-thumbs up!