When A/P Yeo Gee Kin embarked on a tour with the Baihe Ladies Singers during the semester break, she would not have foreseen that it would lead her to using Breeze.
A/P Yeo, from the Department of Information Systems, School of Computing, was in China to perform in an international choir festival with the Baihe Singers. She managed to sing with the choir for one night before misfortune befell her.
On the night of 23 July 2004, A/P Yeo broke her foot while taking a stroll. "I dont really know what happened," the amiable educator explained, "I was walking on the road, and it wasn't very level as there was construction going on. I suppose I missed a step."
After an x-ray confirmed her foot was broken, she immediately turned her thoughts to her students and her work. It would be a while before she could return to NUS, and it was about a fortnight before the start of the new academic year.
Breeze had been introduced to the School of Computing faculty by one of CIT's staff. Remembering the introduction, A/P Yeo disclosed, "I told myself, I have to use Breeze. I wanted to use it but I knew it would take time. So the injury helped me along with doing it!"
She set about getting her department heads approval for Breeze's online presentation mode lectures. A/P Yeo also requested for the same teaching assistant from the previous year to expedite teaching matters.
Having settled administrative affairs for CS3250 Management Support Systems, A/P Yeo began learning how to use Breeze. "It was actually quite easy to master because it's basically PowerPoint. Breeze helps to add voice and extras." Despite having only two weeks, she became proficient in using Breeze with the help of CIT staff Melvyn Song. "He was a great help, especially with the audio file formats," she enthused.
Despite this good start, A/P Yeo ran into an obstacle. The students were not aware that the lectures would be Breeze presentations. Teaching Assistant Koh Chung Haur walked the students through the first lecture. From the second lecture onwards, A/P Yeo waited in the IVLE chatroom so that students could clarify points made during the lecture.
A/P Yeo feels this is the biggest benefit of Breeze presentations, "They view the lecture and then we have an immediate discussion. This supplements face-to-face contact with the Teaching Assistant during tutorials."
Several students were bemused by the Breeze presentations. Some students were saying things like, "We are receiving all this [content]. We are getting the 'eggs' without knowing the 'chicken'. So, I told them that they can go to my website and look at my photo there. But imagine me to be a bit older," A/P Yeo related about her absence from campus.
Using Breeze was also a learning experience for her. Students provided feedback that she was speaking too fast and using long sentences.
"Preparing Breeze presentations is very different from preparing for a lecture, then going there to talk," explained A/P Yeo, "I thought that since it was going to be recorded, I had better make sure that every sentence is correct. So, when I started writing my script, it became more like writing a formal paper. It is very different from how we speak."
Overall, A/P Yeo found using Breeze to be a good experience. "When I was able to come back [to NUS], I was already hooked on it. I told my students that well continue with Breeze, but I will make myself available in the classroom," she said.
Besides Breeze, A/P Yeo uses other instructional technology and flexible education systems. She has webcast CS1105 Computing and Society lectures. She also makes extensive use of IVLE, especially the forum, workbin, chat and scheduling tools.
A/P Yeo Gee Kin thanks the School of Computing for allowing her to conduct online Breeze lectures and for assigning her the TA of her choice. She also thanks TA Koh Chung Haur for the extra work he had to do. Finally, she expresses her gratitude to CIT staff Melvyn Song, who was, in her words, "ever so prompt in coming to my aid on Breeze".
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