Reflective journal

This is a post to keep a track of what went right and what did not, in terms of the units I am teaching.

The three units I have this semester are: COMP115 (undergrad), ITEC802 (Postgrad), PICTFDN (Postgrad - external?)

My first observation this semester in COMP115 is how wonderfully chocolates work irrespective of what demographic is your class coming from! They participate very actively given this reward system! I don't like to call it a bribe because "bribe" is something you provide in return for an "unjust" favor. while a reward is something provided for someone who does their job beyond expectation. A general student is not "obliged" to participate. But the participation, if there, should be appreciated and chocolates are a good way. Of course, there are other gestures that show that their class involvement is appreciated like a pat on the back and applause. Generally, students derive self-confidence from the confidence their lecturers have in them. And if they are confident (of their capability to learn new things) coming into the university, they are more likely to perform better during the entire degree.

My second observation is in the external postgrad unit and how difficult it is to teach a programming component without any visual aids whatsoever! I have been given a sound recorder to record my lectures that external students can listen to, but without any visual tools, the lecture notes really need to be more graphical to help students understand the point. this generalizes to the problem of verbose lecture notes. Lecture notes should sparsely and miserly use text and should contain graphs and figures and other media if possible. this might be hard for areas like literature, I understand, but for fields like computer science, history, politics, I am sure lecturers can find relevant images and include them in lecture notes or slideshows. As I understand (intuitively), images help students correlate the text with the topic thereby acting as learning catalyst.

---------------------------------------------------

(15/04) The workshop yesterday emphasized upon the importance of structured classes as compared to on-the-go design (even if that of a workshop). Now here, I am only talking about workshops. An "agenda" should always be prepared in advance. Maybe the students will have enough questions to keep you busy but just in case they want you to explain things one more time, it always helps to prepare some simple examples. I made the mistake of discussing a complex example and that only discouraged the students from getting involved - there's one mistake i won't repeat. NO COMPLEX QUESTIONS FOR GENERAL CLASS! (For those interested, I gave them the question of solving quadratic roots through pass by reference)

---------------------------------------------------

(21/04) Wrote eleven practice questions on http://comp115.createforum.com/ for students to help them with pass by reference. Feels nice :)

---------------------------------------------------

(22/04) This is a long one so you might wanna get some coffee. Mr. Fox (English name) is a Chinese student in my class and for the first 2 or 3 weeks he was completely and utterly unresponsive. I presumed that he is an uninterested student like a few others and tried to pester him into participating but to no avail. Then in week 4 or 5 I think I called him after the class and asked him why is his performance not satisfactory and he told me about his inability in understanding me ... now I remember, it was actually week 4. We only have one lecture of this subject and no recordings unfortunately. So, I started taking a camcorder to classes and also recording screencast videos using Camtasia Studio. The other measure was the forum I talked about in the previous entry. The results are fantastic. Many students improved performance, and Fox in specific has not become an excellent student, and when I say that, I don't just mean that he answers my questions and gets decent scores but also that he has become "critical" of what I do - he questions... HE QUESTIONS!!! and that, my friends, is a good student, one who questions. Inquisitiveness is the basis of all knowledge. I awarded Fox with a PI mug in the class (I picked up about 30 mugs from a geek shop in crows nest) to appreciate his improvement. It is one of the most rewarding things in my academic career in a while. Before this, I think it was the success of a Masters student Amireh who initially struggled but picked up Java quite well later in the semester. Anyways, moral of the Fox story for me is "show a little concern for students individually and you wil help them tremendously"

---------------------------------------------------

(19/05) It was terrible :( I struggled to give a demo in the class today because of unforeseeable problem in technology :( I had an example in mind that I wanted to create in front of the students but as I proceeded, it just wouldn't work. We all pondered over it for a good 20 mins but it didn't work. It was a waste of time for me and more importantly, for the students. Lesson learnt - keep a backup working demo!

---------------------------------------------------

(07/06) Today was a good day for a few reasons. I got my "learners evaluation of teaching" from SIBT. and I did not have a single "strongly disagree" against my name :). The average scores were all around 4.7 to 4.8 out of 5. But it were the comments that were really satisfying. My favorites were "Best lecturer ever" and in response to "areas of improvement" someone wrote "NO, he is a great lecturer " (blushing). There was just one student whose feedback I am a bit worried about. (S)he wrote - "he verbally encourages participation but when students give incorrect/ tentative answers/ guesses, they are chided ..." It is in fact the exact opposite what i *try* to do but maybe i DO act a bit harshly sometimes. This is something I would definitely try to work on next semester.

The other reason for me being happy is the unofficial feedback i received from my masters students - my masters students!!! (they are always VERY demanding and unforgiving, having experienced the corporate life and everything). Shirren, who is by far one of the best S/W professionals I have come across, commended my teaching which is a big honor for me (in an email he said "...you were easily my best lecturer all semester...". I had two students this semester for whom I hold special respect, Shirren and Thierry. There are other students who didn't have the same level of experience as these two but I am sure they'll be equally good in 3-5 years (Kok-yan, Alan, Jimmy to name a few). Alan, in his final 20% assignment wrote "I think I am in love" while describing one of the topics implemented. This simple statement shows that your students have actually gotten into what you taught and they are taking it as a fun-thing rather than a sob-this-stupid-assignment attitude they might have if they don't understand it/ like it. That one sentence for me is actually more important than any other LET/ LEU outcome.

---------------------------------------------------

(18/01/2011) I just finished marking the exams and preparing results for COMP115 and it's not good :(
Looking back, the main reasons for this might be

1. Change of programming language to Processing which needs a higher amount of time to setup programs and more complicated execution process (console output is TINNNNY so that cannot be used). This results in students not getting a chance to write programs in the lecture room.
2. Video lectures - something that started as a goodwill gesture has gone wrong I think :( Because lecture videos are available, some students do not come to the class and obviously recordings are not the same as in-class participation.
3. Quality of students in general - I feel that the cohort quality isn't the same as it used to be.
4. Possibility of improvement from teaching staff - We need to be more clear, consistent and proactive

---------------------------------------------------

poha or pohe (flattened rice)

i was talking to 2 of my students last weekend, charanya and sanjay, when the topic of food came up (are you really surprised!?!?) and there was some mention of poha (flattened rice) which is a staple breakfast dish in many parts of India. Indorians are quite the sucker for this magnifico dish

ingredients to serve 2:

200 grams medium / thick poha (NOT thin)
3 green chillis (optional, can reduce or skip if you want mild)
1/6 teaspoon (also known as a pinch :D) turmeric
salt to taste
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar (yes)
1/3 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 tablespoons oil
garnish (optional) coriander leaves and pomegranate.

rinse the poha in a saucepan for about 30 seconds and drain the water. you don't have to drain every single drop because the remnant will fluff-up the poha. just drain it until you start getting drops coming out.

throw the salt, sugar and turmeric on this and leave for 10 mins (you can sprinkle water on it twice or thrice during these 10 mins if you think it's not moist enough). 8 mins into the waiting process you can heat the oil in a saucepan on high and when hot add the chopped chilli and mustard seeds (some people like onions and curry leaves too). turn heat on low, then throw the poha in (you can add diced boiled potatoes and peas at this point if you want but i prefer it simple), stir frequently, cook for about 2 minutes sprinkling water twice or thrice.

sprinkle lemon juice before you have it! optionally, also garnish with chopped coriander leaves and pomegranate seeds and you got yourself a winner :) i find coriander gives an amazing flavor but the world won't end if you don't have it at hand ;)

5000 *unique* visits

thanks to you all, the blog got it's 5000th unique visitor today! some of the statistics -

i started the blog on 28th August 2009 and in the last 1 1/2 years, we've had visits from 75 countries

top searched phrase "marathi kadhi recipe"

funniest searched phrase "what is the difference if we use onions instead of structures in linked lists?" - (WTF!?!)

we went to raavi's cumin in crow's nest to celebrate :p indian food doesn't usually get better than at raavi's in sydney (he he, i already started advertising :D)

hoping to make this blog more useful for everyone out there in the coming year! do leave suggestions as comments and request for an Indian recipe - if I know how to make it, I will post it :)

Things to do this year -

1. More pictures to accompany dishes
2. Image slideshow
3. Maybe even a youtube video about all the recipes
4. FAQ section

Dahi ka Kachummar

Share

if you make tikkas/ keema/ tandoori chicken, usually there are two accompaniments - green coriander chutney, and dahi ka kachummar...

kachummar is essentially a salad that has been mixed very well with hands to get some juices out.

this one is similar to raita but thicker and more flavorful.

ingredients:


200 gms yoghurt
200 grams red onions cut into thin rings
1 cucumber diced fine
1 tomato diced fine
a bunch of coriander and mint
1 lemon

1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon anaar-daana powder (pomgranate seeds, dried and crushed)
salt as per taste

add all the ingredients together and mix really well, don't shy away from crushing it a bit.

serve with fresh pomegranate seeds as garnish if available :)

daal fry

Share

i am sorry i don't yet have a picture for this recipe yet, but i will post it soon :)

daal fry is a restaurant classic in india. the usual family orders are for 1 daal fry, 1 paneer masala, 1 veg jalfreizi, 2 tandoori roti, 2 parathas and 1 jeera rice :D

oh, about the daal -

ingredients (to serve 4, alongwith another dish):

250 gms toowar daal
1 large onion
1 large tomato
4-5 bay leaves
2 cardamoms
3 cloves
1 large cinnamon stick
1 level tablespoon cumin seeds
1 bunch coriander
3/2 teaspoon chilli powder (2 teaspoon for the adventurous
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
6 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 finger of ginger, chopped fine
1 teaspoon salt
50 ml oil

boil the toowar daal in a pressure cooker on high for 15 minutes. if you don't have a pressure cooker, use a narrow, deep saucepan and boil on high for 30 minutes in (1.5 ltrs water whichever way you boil it)

while it's boiling, chop the onions and tomatoes (separately :D) into small pieces (about .5 cm by .5cm for the engineers) and chop the coriander alongwith step (just remove the root and you're good). keep them aside.

heat oil in a pan, and when hot add the cumin seeds followed by whole spices (bay leaves, cardamom, clove, cinnamon). sitre for about 30 seconds and add the onions, fry on medium heat for 5 mins and add ginger garlic, cook for another 2-3 minutes, then turn heat high and add the chilli, turmeric and coriander powders, along with salt and 50 ml water. stir well so that spices solution cooks properly. add the tomatoes and immediately add the boiled daal (with the water). cook on high for 10 mins stirring occasionally and garnish with coriander to serve :)

Raita

Share


There'd be heaps of Indians who laugh at this post because making Raita in India is like being able to boil eggs, pretty much everyone knows how to make raita. Still, it might be a little mysterious for rest of you, in terms of how do you get the mild refreshing aroma, what can i put in it, how thick should it be, etc...

here i have a few recipes of raita for you all.

1. Boondi raita: You can get "boondi" from any decent indian grocery store. You can also make it yourself. Just google boondi recipe on youtube. It looks like this - 

Ingredients:

500ml european style yoghurt

1/4 (or even lesser) teaspoon red chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon roasted cumin powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mint sauce OR (a handful of finely chopped mint + 1 teaspoon sugar)

handful of chopped coriander

OPTIONAL but yummmmm - some pomegranate seeds

Process: mix all ingredients together - yes, that IS the whole recipe. 

---------------------------------------

2. Vegetable raita:

The vegetables replace the boondi in the first version. The veggies should be chopped fine. You can use one or more of the following in order of preference:

a. Cucumber

b. Onion

c. Carrot

d. Tomatoes (firm)

e. Cabbage shredded

f.  Zucchini

g. pineapple (it's not a veggie - big deal!)

h. green mango (just a little bit gives a tangy taste)

Vegetables that should never be used for raita are:

a. Potatoes

b. Eggplants

c. Okra :D (although bhindi ki sabzi when mixed with yoghurt is DIVINE!)