Page 16 - Ideas
P. 16
Associate Professor Leong Kwong Sin has taught in many
different disciplines over the course of his almost 40 years
as an educator. Throughout, he has never shied away
from innovative teaching methods and trying out
emerging educational technology platforms. His passion
for what he calls “IT toys” and computer aided learning
tools is evident, even as he acknowledges that the
journey has not always been a smooth sailing one.
A challenging journey
He fondly recalls dabbling with business games 40 years
ago, enjoying them despite the often lengthy time
required to play them. At some point, it occurred to him
to develop his own games for the financial accounting
modules he was teaching at the time. He also
experimented using commercial business-themed
offerings with his students.
LEONG Kwong Sin Kwong Sin’s interest in games was also sparked off by a
Associate Professor of Accounting rather unexpected source – his reservist stint. Observing
School of Accountancy his senior officers playing military-styled simulation
Singapore Management University games got him thinking about how effective they were in
enabling people to experience situations that were
realistic, but without any of the actual damages and
“It is wrong to play games for the sake of playing them. overheads. It prompted him to attempt to create a virtual
The use of innovative teaching tools must always be learning environment. Although the attempt did not quite
grounded in what you want to communicate to the take off, it nonetheless proved to be a very good learning
students. After deciding about the ‘what’, then only
experience.
does the ‘how’ come in.”
