Page 19 - Ideas

courses combine various topics, with enrolled students instructors would be able to know where to find innovative
hailing from various disciplines. Case approach (the use teaching tools if they want access to them.
of thoroughly researched and in-depth detailed case
scenarios to teach) features as the preferred teaching The adoption of innovative pedagogical tools
approach of many capstone course instructors. Kwong Despite his interest and enthusiasm in adopting games

Sin feels that there is a lot of potential for games to be and belief in their teaching and learning value, Kwong Sin
leveraged to impart solid and independent learning and does not presume to advise others to teach in a similar
bring the case approach to a higher level. He feels that style. “Everyone has their own teaching styles,” he
with CTE’s support to help with technical issues, it is not explained, “so telling other people what to do may not be
too big a step to turn this idea into a reality. fully appropriate.” Kwong Sin thinks that not every

Kwong Sin also proposed developing a system for instructor would find the use of innovative teaching tools
games, i.e., grouping related games and instructors with necessary or even beneficial. For such instructors, perhaps
similar interests together. Synergy would arise as introducing and getting them to see the benefits would be
instructors who start to play one game get exposed to an important and more realistic first step.
and progressively be familiarised with the other games. Kwong Sin feels that games should not be a deciding
This idea dovetails nicely with CTE’s plans to develop a factor in one’s teaching pedagogy. “It is wrong to play
SMU marketplace for innovative teaching tools. The games for the sake of playing them. The use of innovative
creation of a marketplace would go some way towards teaching tools must always be grounded in what you want
addressing one the barriers faced by instructors in to communicate to the students. After deciding about the
adopting innovative teaching tools, as identified by ‘what’, then only does the ‘how’ come in.” To him, “if the
Kwong Sin, namely, the lack of awareness of what tools ‘how’ decides the ‘what’, then the tail is wagging the dog.”

are in existence and their features. With such a platform,

Kwong Sin’s personal experiences with learning from real-life successes and setbacks over his decades’ work developing
and using business games reinforced his notion of the value of experiential learning. Hence, if his students are unable to
readily and naturally encounter such experiences at their current stage of life, he endeavors to bring the experience to them,
using games as a proxy to replicate and facilitate real-life learning experiences and “ah-ha” moments in the classroom.