Your First Assignment

mrfaez
Originally uploaded by mrfaezisa.

Hi there,

It was a fantastic week watching you going through the process of becoming good science communicators. And a lot more coming through..

And I must congratulate all of you for splendid delivery of Cultural Performance this morning. We enjoyed each and every single of it. Good job!

Assignment 1:

Assuming that you're a worker of a petroleum company who is now working at an offshore platform/oil rig. The rig is located somewhere 200 nautical miles from the main land. The water surrounding the platform is 5 degree below. As you're doing a routine check on the pipe systems on the platform, suddenly there's a loud bang followed by massive fire everywhere. The whole platform structure caught in fire and will collapse in about less than 10 minutes. The situation is very chaotic and you never know when the Research and Rescue is coming.

You only have 2 options; either jump into the sea or wait for the rescue team ? And which is yours? And why?

Note: write them under the comment section.

Uniquely Blogged

Think back to a favourite teachers or educators from your schools or universities as student or undergrad. Revisit an engaging, stimulating activity that you experienced in PETROSAINS. What ideas and materials did the facilitators draw upon to assemble that activity? Next, consider what happens when these educators or facilitators retires (or retired) - what happen to those materials? Will future students benefit from the same activity or does the experience retire along with them?

Or consider our own professinal practice: the handouts we've created, the approaches we've devised, and the insights we've gained in the content area, curriculum and our students. When we retire, how much of that productive work will be accesible and useful to others?

And that's why for the first time, this PETROSAINS - UTP Programme embarks on this blogging initiative. It was a daunting task though as posting blog via PETROSAINS Intranet is crawlingly slow and too much of content filtration, which always lead to frustration.

Nevertheless, we shouldn't give up. Photos and other materials can be posted in a blink from students' apartments and homes. At this point of juncture, most of our UTPs managed to create their blogs and able to share their wonderful experiences in PETROSAINS. I am proud to say that the first week of SciComm has captured some good memories.

This week I will link all the blogs together in this page as they will undergo more exciting assignments and projects. Lots of things to share and so much fun doing it. Let's blog!

Unlearn and Relearn

Even though this SciComm Project is small in magnitude but efforts needed to tie up things together are tremendous. I alone would not be able to execute the plans and let the ball rolling without the help from my colleagues.

Nevertheless, I observed everybody's very well occupied and there's little time to give in for this size of event. As time is the essence here, the best option is always to do it by yourself and approach or deal with either the persons or processes directly. And it works!

I guess when you're in new environment you've got to unlearn and relearn few new tricks. Cheers!

Meeting the undergrads

We (Farid, Jamie, Jean, Daniel and myself) reached UTP at 6.40 pm . The meeting started with an opening speech by Mr. Maufauza of International Students Affairs UTP. There were about 22 students attended at first and flow of late comers have seated before the opening speech by Mr James Robert Bell(Jamie). Attendance recorded at 29/30.

Jamie demonstrated the magic torch light and the bazooka window which aroused the audience. I've observed an Iranian student got amused and participated in the hands-on activity while interacting with Jamie and his colleagues.

My first impression - this group is wonderful and full of energy. It's worth the effort to give them the best. I went through my briefing slides and issues been ironed out well amid their heavy examination schedule.

The phrase "Just go through the process and have fun" was strategically set during the entire briefing. And I leave them with just a blogspot to communicate until then.

Tronoh visit was a fruitful trip and learnt that this is Jamie's first long distance outstation by land. He's OK and survived. The Mee Rebus Ramli is WOW but sadly Daniel got diarrhea the following morning. And kudos to my man Farid for good navigation and driving. And Jean, as always extend wonderful hospitality throughout.

Looking forward to their coming to PETROSAINS!

Initiation of my first blog on SciComm

Calling all selected undergraduates of PETROSAINS-UTP SCICOMM Dec2006, start blogging!