How to save the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club? (Part 2.5) + Game Spotlight: Las Vegas

My loyal readers will recall the post I wrote in January about the imminent plight of the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club (NPBGC), who have been put on probation until April 2015. At that time, the powers that be will decide if the NPBGC will cease to exist. My loyal readers will also be annoyed at me for not posting anything for over two months, but that's beside the point.

I wrote another post in April talking about using the CCA Fiesta for increasing membership at the club, which did manage to boost the club membership to an acceptable level. In the meantime, the NPBGC members have been busy trying to implement my other ideas, including introducing games to students at the library Board Games Zone (BGZ) and learning multiple games well enough to teach them properly. Nonetheless, the club is still in trouble.

Another thing the club can do is to help the library promote the games in the BGZ. Currently, the library periodically posts articles promoting a game on their Facebook page. The plan is for the library to post such an article before each of the Monday evening NPBGC game sessions. A staff member from the library will then attend the session to take pictures of students playing the game and to get some quotes about how cool and fun the game is, which will then be updated on the Facebook post.

Here is a previous post on the game Las Vegas that the library put up a few months back:

Post by Lien Ying Chow Library.

The administrator who wrote this post tried her best, but she's not a gamer. Consequently, the post is less informative than it could be. The description doesn't explain how the game works or why it is fun, the pictures don't show gameplay (why are they fanning their money like that?), and the link to the library catalogue entry isn't very informative. Let's just say that the post does not make me want to play the game.

So I assigned some homework to the club members. I got them all to pick a game from the library's collection, and they have to write the Facebook post for the game (everything but the pictures and quotes). As a general formula, there should be one paragraph explaining the game, one paragraph explaining why the game is fun, and a number of relevant links to stuff like Youtube video reviews and articles.

Here is my attempt to rewrite the Las Vegas entry:

Fight for control of casinos in this push-your-luck dice-rolling game! In Las Vegas, there are six casinos numbered 1 to 6 with different values each round. On your turn, you roll the dice of your colour, allocate all dice of one value to the matching casino, then retrieve your remaining dice. This continues until all players have run out of dice. The player with the most dice in each casino gets the biggest payout, but here's the twist: if you have the same number of dice in a casino as someone else, they cancel each other out. After 4 rounds, the one with the most money wins the game. 

Feel free to "advise" your friends to go after someone else's casino. Threaten vengeance if someone tries to take your casino away from you. Form alliances, negotiate deals, and then stab your friends in the back when the time is right. With a little luck, that's how you become the richest casino mogul in Las Vegas! 

Nominated for the 2012 Spiel Des Jahres (Game of the Year) award. 

To find out more about the game, check out: 

• A video review by the Dice Tower
• A more detailed written review
• The Las Vegas BoardGameGeek entry
• The library OPAC entry 

by Oon Wee Chong, Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club

See that last line in the Facebook entry where I signed off with my name? I want the students to do the same so that readers know it's the opinion of someone who has played and enjoyed the game, not a library administrator who just wants to promote the use of the library facilities.

Has reading the above has piqued your interest in the game of Las Vegas? No? I don't blame you, because it's really difficult to explain why a game is fun by using only words. I'd have liked to record a short video explaining the rules and showing people playing the game, but that's logistically troublesome. Besides, nothing beats actually playing the game.

On the other hand, maybe you'll trust your poly cher that it's a fun game and try it out just based on my recommendation. Similarly, friends of the NPBGC members may do the same when they sign off their posts and share it on their Facebook pages. It's a start, anyway.

At the same time, I also asked the club members to help the library rewrite their library catalogue entry for the game, which will be placed in a file in the BGZ for visitors to peruse. Here's my version of the library catalogue entry for Las Vegas:

Now we just have to do the same with the 100+ other games in the library...

Advice: how to stop procrastinating

I've been hearing students use the word "procrastination" a lot lately. I'd be giving an extra lesson to a student who was behind on her studies, and she'd tell me that her biggest problem is procrastination. Or I'd be listening to a in-house project presentation (which we call a viva, for some reason), and on the slide entitled "Problems Encountered", there'd be the word "Procrastination" as point number one. One of my students even made a Facebook post asking if there is a job where the requirement is the ability to procrastinate, because that's his greatest skill.

And while the students all profess to know that procrastination is not a valid excuse, I get the impression that they're not all that bothered by it, or at least not bothered by it enough to stop procrastinating. They seem to wear it like a badge of honour.

Maybe it's the word itself: "Procrastination." It sounds like a scientific term, or an honorary title. These days I'm getting the impression that "procrastinator" is being held in the same regard as "introvert" or "geek" - not necessarily bad, just misunderstood. Unfortunately, unlike "introvert" or "geek", there are no redeeming qualities to being a procrastinator at all.

The Free Dictionary defines "procrastinate" as "to put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness." Therefore, although the word "procrastinator" sounds somewhat impressive, it really refers to someone who has bad time management skills or is lazy. I could call myself a "vertically challenged, horizontally abundant oriental homo sapien equipped with a visual correction device", but in the end I'm still just a short, fat Chinese guy with glasses.

For students, procrastination usually translates to not doing an assignment or studying for a test early. When the deadline looms, the student finds that they do not have enough time to do a thorough job, and so the quality of their work suffers. Do this often enough and it results in bad grades or even failing. Do I really have to explain why this is a bad thing?

It's funny 'cos it's true.

Most people procrastinate to a greater or lesser extent. I certainly do it, e.g., it took me over 2 months to write this blog post. Like anyone else, I'd much rather take a nap or play some Hearthstone instead of marking assignments or answering work emails. But I'd like to think that I have my procrastination mostly under control, so I'm going to share my technique with you.

Here's my mysterious, ultra-secret technique: just do it. That's right, simply decide to do your work rather than goof off.

"But 'cher," you say, "I just can't! Every time I think about doing my work, I am unable to concentrate and end up watching Youtube videos instead!" To this I say, yes you can, it just takes willpower and practice.

The willpower part is easy to understand. You need the willpower to get started on that dreary assignment or to open up that PowerPoint file to start studying. Now here's the secret: it also takes practice because it gets easier the more you do it. I promise this is true.

Let's look at this logically. Whenever you procrastinate, you rationalize it to yourself that you'll be OK as long as you leave yourself enough time before the deadline. The next thing you know, you've left yourself insufficient time and are unable to complete your work properly. And you feel awful about it. Then you do it again, and the death spiral continues.

Now, let's say that with a supreme effort of willpower, you manage to do your work promptly, well before the deadline. You don't lose any goofing-off time that you couldn't have afforded in the first place, and now you're able to enjoy yourself with a clear conscience. I don't know about you, but I find that I don't enjoy myself as much when I have work that I haven't done nagging at me from the back of my mind.

Start small.

I also find that maintaining a To-do list helps. Just write down everything that you need to do, along with when you need to do it. The very act of writing down your tasks is a help, because you can see at a glance the amount of stuff that you need to do. Windows 7 and 8 comes with the Sticky Notes application, which lets you write notes that appear on your desktop. This is an excellent place to put your To-do list, because you will see it every time you start your computer.

Feel free to sub-divide each task into smaller tasks, and give yourself a deadline for each sub-part. Every time you complete an item on the list, cross it out (or delete it from Sticky Notes). Personally, I love removing an item on my list after a job well done, and seeing my To-do list become just a little bit shorter.

Do this for a while, and you'll find that procrastination simply isn't worth it. Once you get used to doing your work in a timely manner, you will find that it gets easier, and you'll enjoy yourself a lot more during your well-deserved breaks. Plus your 'cher won't have to nag you so much.


Image Source: http://www.mooidus.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/funny-to-do-list-items.jpg

Advice: stay focused in class

This post is for all you students out there. Have you ever done any of the following?

1. Surfed the net, watched Youtube videos or played a computer game, etc., while the lecturer's droning on about who knows what.
2. Did stuff mentioned in point 1 but still listened to the lecturer because you work better when multitasking.
3. Did work for one class in another class.
4. Fallen asleep in class. As in literally fallen asleep. Snoring, drooling, Z's floating above your head.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that my advice on all of the above is: don't do it. Let me address each point separately.

1. Electronic distractions

Pretty much every student that I catch not paying attention in class due to surfing, playing a game or having a long WhatsApp conversation would immediately stop what they're doing (usually with a guilty, sheepish expression), so it's clear that they know that they shouldn't be doing it. And yet, most of them go back to distracting themselves after 5 minutes, and I can only nag them so many times.

I really need to listen to what the lecturer is sayi...

I assume that all students want to score well in examinations, (and, more importantly, use the concepts taught when they encounter it in practice in the future). Many students tell me that they plan to read up on the topic themselves later. To these students I ask, why not figure out the concepts now, when the lecturer is explaining the concepts and is available for questions, and do all your surfing and game playing later?

I don't buy the excuse that "I'm not in the mood to learn right now, I'll learn better later when I'm ready." I don't know about you, but I'm a lazy procrastinating bum. If I'm not forced to sit my butt in a classroom for lessons, I'm honest enough with myself to know that I'm likely to never do it on my own. Hmm, do I play a computer game, go out with my friends, or read a textbook on class diagrams? Decisions, decisions.

Besides, you knew your timetable beforehand. You know you've got 3 hours of lessons tomorrow morning. Make yourself ready. Trust me, it's easier this way, and you get to goof off on your own time without a nagging lecturer glaring at you.

2. Multitasking

While I always reserve the possibility that I'm wrong, I strongly suspect that people who say that "I work better when multitasking" are talking out of their behinds. Seriously, I don't think human brains work that way. Yes, I know that studies have shown that listening to music can help you study. However, note that it helps you study, as in "revise stuff you've already learnt." However, I doubt that playing a computer game while the lecturer is talking can help you learn stuff that you don't yet know. Trust me, I play computer games, and when I'm really into a game, nothing else penetrates my skull. The same applies to reading 9gag, watching NigaHiga or any of the other various distractions.

I worry about these students because, unlike the ones in point 1 above who feel guilty about not paying attention, they are rationalizing their actions by saying that they actually perform better. If you regularly multitask during lessons, um, stop it? Listen to your 'cher. Try focusing on the lesson fully, and I promise that you'll learn better.

3. Doing work from another class

This one I understand. There are two occasions when this happens most frequently: when the students have just left another class and are still discussing topics from that class, and when there's a looming deadline. However, I still try to put a stop to it because they're just replacing one problem with another. Here's a conversation I had recently with a student who was doing Developing Web Applications (DWA) homework in my OOAD class:

Me: Are you doing DWA work?

Student: Yes.

Me: In OOAD class.

Student: Uh, yes...

Me: So, do you do OOAD work during DWA?

Student: Uh...

Me: Do you see the problem?

In emergency situations with a looming deadline, sometimes there's no choice. This means that you're suffering the consequences of poor time management (that assignment to be submitted in 2 hours should have been done much earlier), and the only thing you can do is to plan it better next time. Most of the time, though, focus on the class you're in, not the class you're not. Otherwise you'll just be doing catch-up all the time.

4. Falling asleep

I've had students fall asleep in class. My insecure ego thinks, "jeez, am I really that boring? I'm a terrible teacher!", and then when I wake the student up for an explanation, they invariably tell me that they just slept late.

Here's a radical idea: sleep early. Seriously. You can say no to that DOTA game that will last until 3am if you know that there's a lesson at 10am the next day. And if your friends insist, tell them off. Please. You're a student whose only responsibility is to learn. Take your responsibilities seriously.

I was really tempted

And don't get me started on the students who come to class late because they woke up late...

Listen, I understand. I've done similar things back when I was a student, all except actually falling asleep. Of course, this was back in the dark ages before the Internet (jeez I'm old). But yeah, I doodled, played countless games of tic-tac-toe and Hangman with my friends, and did all sorts of things to stop my brains from leaking out of my ears during particularly boring lectures. And let me tell you, I did get dangerously close to falling asleep on several occasions.

However, I always try to ensure that I understood the concepts taught before I goof off. I read ahead in the slides and took a look at the tutorial questions to see if I could answer them. If so, I relaxed. If not, I listened. I also took notes (I prefer writing notes on a piece of paper rather than typing them in a Word document) and asked questions, which kept me alert, attentive and awake. If I had Internet access when I was a student, I would be Googling concepts as the lecturer talked about them to gain a better understanding. That would be a good use of multitasking.

In summary, when you're in class, commit to it. You're there to learn, and you're responsible for your own education. And if you're anything like me, you'll enjoy yourself so much more when you goof off after a tough day of lessons because you're patting yourself on the back for a job well done.

Image sources:
http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr91/Mjr162006/Squirrels/squirrel-up-dog-gif.gif
http://mrjgoyeneche.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/social-media-multi-tasking.jpg
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

The case for in-house projects

In order to graduate, every ICT student has to go through either an internship or an in-house project. This semester, for the first time, I am supervising two in-house (IHP) project students; I have only supervised internship students before.

Historically, most students prefer to go for an internship, for a variety of reasons:

• "Internship at IBM" sounds so much cooler on your resume than "Did a project in school."
• You get to experience an actual working environment and find out if you have what it takes to make it in the real world.
• Job offers at the end of successful internships are not unheard of. Having a job lined up before you have even graduated is a big deal. Of course, you have to perform really well for that to happen, but still.

Consequently, most students choose to apply for internships and will only do an IHP if they don't get accepted (naturally, the best students usually get accepted). This means that the majority of students who do IHP's are either the demoralized internship rejects or those who have failed some modules and have to stay in school to complete their coursework requirement.

For these and other reasons, IHP's have a bad reputation as a consolation prize for losers who couldn't make it to internships. Many IHP students lack confidence in their own abilities and constantly ask their supervisors what to do, treating their project like yet another module assignment. Others cruise through the entire 3 months watching Youtube videos, playing computer games and taking 4-hour lunches. Is it any wonder that internship students tend to outscore IHP students by three or four grades, on average?

Screenshot of actual submitted draft Project Charter. Apparently, IHP's are not the only ones with a bad reputation.

Guess what? IHP's are no worse than internships. They are worth the same number of credit units, and you can learn as much in an IHP as an internship (if not more). In fact, I would argue that they are better than internships in many ways, but only if you make the most of it. Here's how.

1. Pick or propose a project that interests you

When considering whether to bid for an IHP, really think about whether the project interests you. Lots of proposed projects are all kinds of cool, like creating a system to help patients with their physiotherapy, or doing data analytics to identify at-risk students - these are projects with real applications, not just something mundane that helps a company eke out a bit more profit. Alternatively, most supervisors will allow you to propose an appropriate project, so you get to define what you're going to do. Therefore, you can pick or propose something that really interests you, and you really, really should.

To me, this is the main advantage of an IHP over an internship. If you go to an internship and you're told to do boring data entry every day, you're stuck with it. In IHP, you can do what you want to do, not what the company requires you to do.

Well, within reason. Listen to your supervisor's advice on the feasibility of your proposed project. It's your supervisor's job to make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew; you're not going to be able to make an MMORPG in 3 months, for instance. But don't immediately reject a project idea that you don't immediately know how to do, because you should also:

2. Challenge yourself

Unless you really want to sell T-shirts online or something, don't touch that e-Commerce website project with a 10-foot pole. In ICT, you have modules like Databases, Developing Web Applications and e-Commerce Application Development that teach you a lot about how to make an e-Commerce website, so why on earth would you want to make one for your IHP? You've already made several in your module assignments.

When evaluating IHP's, we lecturers do take degree of difficulty into account. If what you end up with is essentially the same as your module assignments with a new coat of paint, then you're not going to score. The only e-Commerce website projects that get an A have to be spectacular, with lots of features that weren't explicitly taught in class.

Here's an open secret: what you learn in ICT will probably become obsolete pretty quickly, because technology moves so rapidly that the factual knowledge you acquire may be replaced by something else entirely in a few years. In fact, the most valuable skill you will get from a polytechnic education should be the ability to learn new stuff quickly, and this is one of the things that we're evaluating in an IHP.

So go ahead and learn a new programming language. Create that networked real-time mobile game app that puts Flappy Bird to shame. You've got 3 months to find out what you need to know. If other people can do it, why can't you? 

3. Do something you'll be proud to show off

Here's another advantage of IHP over internships: they generally don't have any issues with non-disclosure agreements. While "Internship at IBM" sounds good on the resume, it's hard to distinguish yourself from all the other IBM interns. On the other hand, if you design and implement a cool new system, that's something you can show off to prospective employers.

Let me put it this way. Would you rather be the guy who says "I interned at IBM. I did a lot! I can't show you anything due to the NDA, but you can trust me, right?", or the candidate who says "I developed a mobile app to help colour blind people identify colours to help them in their daily lives - and here it is!"

"...and here is a Straits Times newspaper article with my picture on it. Any questions?"

On the flip side, don't be the one who says "I spent 3 months working full-time and all I made was a cookie-cutter e-Commerce website." Do something you can be proud of, and employers will be glad to hire someone who can achieve something remarkable on their own with limited supervision. 

4. Treat it like an internship

One of the reasons that internships tend to score better then IHP's is the fact that internship students are forced to follow the corporate culture. They have strict working hours, a dress code, deadlines and real-world constraints (like dealing with customers, which can be a special kind of hell). IHP's, on the other hand, are a lot less closely monitored. There is not much to keep you from playing games for half the day and take 3-hour lunches.

My advice is don't, just don't. Treat it like an internship. Come to school by, say, 9am, leave no earlier than 5pm, and put in a full day's work every day. Make schedules and give yourself short-term targets to aim for. Break your project down into features, map out how long each will take, add a buffer for contingencies, and stick to the schedule. If you need the database up and running by the end of the week, make sure it's up and running even if you have to work overtime. After all, that's how deadlines work in companies - you finish your work no matter what. If you expect to get grades similar to internships, then you have to hold yourself to similar standards (okay, maybe not the dress code part).

In many ways, sticking to a schedule is much more challenging in an IHP than in an internship. At a company, everyone there is acting professionally and doing work because if they don't, they get canned. During an IHP, you may be surrounded by friends playing 2048, showing you the latest trending Youtube video and inviting you to extended tea-breaks every day. The next thing you know, it's 4pm on Friday and all you've written is public static void main(String[] args){ }. Don't let that happen to you.

BTW, if you manage to finish the job that you planned to complete by Friday on Thursday, go ahead and goof off with a couple of hours of DOTA. Just be honest with yourself and don't give yourself an easy schedule.

An IHP is an uninterrupted 3 months where you get to work on a project full-time. If you're about to take on an IHP, think about the amount of work you produced last semester over all your modules. Even if you take into account the time you need to acquire new knowledge by yourself, your IHP should still have a scope that is about two or three modules' worth of final assignments combined. If your project could conceivably be done by a Year 2 student in a couple of weeks under supervision, you're not doing enough.

Like I said, this semester I have two IHP students. One of them is helping to create a GUI for an ICT common test timetabling system, which will help produce better timetables for all students in ICT. The other has the opportunity to create his own game, including gameplay logic, graphics and AI. Even though neither of them are top students in terms of GPA, I sincerely believe that as long as they take the above advice to heart, they have every chance of getting an A+ for their IHP. Not only that, they'd have completed projects that they would be proud to call their own.

Image sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Challenge_Accepted_Rage_Comic.png
http://www.np.edu.sg/home/news/archives/2013/oct_dec/Pages/20131202_3_ictapp.aspx

How to save the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club? (Part 2)

As reported in this previous post, the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club (NPBGC) was due to be dissolved on 1 April 2014 due to a lack of members and the fact that the Ngee Ann Library has a board games room (BGR), so a separate club seemed superfluous. Well, it seems that the club has been given a reprieve, but they have had the following draconian measures imposed on them:

1. The club now gets to use the BGR as their base of operations: a large, fully renovated room with custom-built tables and chairs, display shelves full of games and a sound system;
2. Club members get paid a good wage to man the counter of the BGR;
3. The club can now use the library's much larger budget to buy games, including multiple copies of games in order to hold competitions

This is the price for poor running of the club. Let this be a lesson to you all.

All kidding aside, it's not just a bigger room, money and more games. Ultimately, their reprieve is only for one year, and by 1 April 2015 they have to get their membership numbers up to at least 40 and increase the number of game loans from the BGC by an unspecified amount. It is also their job to schedule the members to man the counters at all times.

The biggest issue is the membership numbers, which is why the upcoming CCA Fiesta that introduces all the CCA's in Ngee Ann Polytechnic to freshmen is so important. This is their best chance to attract new members, to introduce the hobby and show everyone that board games is so much more than Monopoly or chess.

The decor in the Board Games Room does not help

The CCA Fiesta this year will be held from 22-24 April 2014 at the Sports Complex. Each CCA will be given a small booth, and the trick is to somehow attract the attention of eager young freshmen and distinguish themselves from over 100 other CCA's. The NPBGC committee has been working hard to come up with a plan. The last I heard, the current plan is to use a combination of visually appealing games and prizes to lure the attendees in, a few short games that they can try out to get an idea of what board games is about, and then to lead them to the BGR where the meatier games will be on display. Hopefully, this will be enough to get some students to sign on the dotted line.

This is the crucial first step in the revival of the club. Any readers out there, if you happen to be around during this period, it would be worth your while to drop by the NPBGC booth. If you don't know much about board games, here's your chance to find out. Oh, and bring a friend, or two, or twenty. The NPBGC is understaffed but enthusiastic, and boardgaming is a worthwhile hobby that really needs to be more widespread.

Will this be enough to save the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club? Stay tuned!

Three little updates

It's been three months since I last posted a blog entry. Just so that my loyal readers don't think this blog is dead (um, any loyal readers out there?), I'm just going to tell you about three little things that have happened in my life recently. In descending order of significance:

3. I've been made Assistant Course Manager

Ngee Ann Polytechnic has been reviewing the organizational structure of the various schools, and there have been a few changes made. As a result, I have been given the new post of Assistant Course Manager for the Diploma in Information Technology, which means that I get to work with the Course Manager to improve the diploma and influence how things are run. This comes hot on the heels of my appointment as Section Head and Cluster Chair, so I'm going to have to print new business cards again. :)

In the short term, this new appointment doesn't mean much. I have a few more day-to-day responsibilities, but otherwise it's business as usual. In the long term, sooner or later (and it may very well be sooner) the Diploma in IT is going to have to go through a review. Modules may be revamped or replaced, teaching methods may change, and the entire course structure could be turned on its head. As the ACM, I will have a decent amount of influence on what changes will be made.

So if you're a Dip. IT student who has some ideas or opinions on the course, I will be happy to have a chat. Your ideas might very well benefit students in the future.

2. I've won the School Teaching Award AY 2013/2014

Woo-hoo!

Every year, NP recognizes the outstanding lecturers in each school. Students are first asked to nominate deserving lecturers. From these nominations, a number of them are shortlisted and asked to prepare teaching portfolios. A panel then goes through the portfolios, and then the award winners are determined based on the portfolios and other criteria (including peer recommendations and student comments). Well, this year the panel has seen it fit to confer the award on little ol' me. :D

This is a big deal to me. Egotistical me has always thought that I'm a pretty good teacher, but I have never won any sort of teaching award. After a while I start wondering whether it's all in my head. Maybe I'm an awful teacher, and the students who say that they like how I teach are just humouring me (or buttering me up for better grades). To finally win an award for teaching serves as a validation of my teaching philosophy and methods, so yeah, I'm inspired to continue teaching in the way I think is best. For those of you who hate how I teach, well, pbththththhth!

By the way, this blog played a big part. Like I said in my first ever post, I started this blog partly to supplement my teaching portfolio, and the portfolio I submitted included lots of links to various posts on this blog, silly jokes and all. Turns out the STA panel has a sense of humour. Who knew?

1. My wife is preggers

We're expecting our second child in September, so there's that.

So many questions!

When I teach, I punctuate my lessons with questions. Lots of questions. And I really mean a lot of questions.

Riddle me this: which of Schneiderman's 8 golden rules does this UI design violate? Muahahahah!

I'm sure I'm a pretty annoying lecturer to some students, because every few minutes I'll ask a question to the class and there would be this awkward silence as nobody has any idea what the answer is. Meanwhile, I would be standing in the front of the class with what probably looks like a self-satisfied smirk on my face and a holier-than-thou attitude, giving obscure hints and clues (usually in the form of more questions) until someone timidly ventures the right answer. I would congratulate the student on his brilliant deductive work and continue with the lecture, and then a few minutes later it would happen again.

I feel that asking questions is one of the best ways to keep a class engaged (or at least awake). They don't all have to be complex, thought-provoking head-scratchers. Even asking "any questions?" is helpful to give the students time to digest the new and possibly complex material just covered. Ideally, there should be a mix of easy and tough questions in every lesson to keep students at all ability levels engaged. 

Whom you pick to answer your questions is important. In every class there are a few students who are always eager to answer the 'cher and offer their views, but most of the class tends to be unwilling to answer questions, possibly due to the fear of answering incorrectly or just general shyness. In the first few lessons, I would try to involve as many students as possible when asking questions, but after a few weeks I can tell who are the ones who are happy to participate and who would shrink into a little shivering ball if I call on them to answer out loud.

And I don't force it, and I don't penalize those who are not answering in class. There are some modules that allocate perhaps 10% of the assessment to "class participation". Some lecturers interpret this as the willingness to speak up in class, and so they would not award these marks to those who do not actively answer questions. Personally, I think this unfairly penalizes the introverts, and let's face it, many students who pick IT as their career path would rather talk to a computer than human beings. Some of my best students never answer my questions in class; instead, they wait until after class to approach me privately if they have any queries.

My best classes return the favour by asking lots of questions themselves. These classes are a joy for me to teach, because (1) I get feedback that they are learning and thinking about the implications of what I'm teaching, and (2) I have a reason to stay alert rather than just droning on about something I've taught many times before. And when the questions come from both parties, what results is a conversation. Suddenly, the tension of a lecturer-student relationship dissipates somewhat, and the entire class generally becomes more open to the exchange of ideas.

This is always my worry in a quiet class

By the way, there will inevitably come a time when students ask a question to which you do not know the answer. Some lecturers make up an answer, and cross their fingers that the students never find out that they are talking out of their rear ends. Others pull the "go Google it yourself" or "you will find out when you work in the real world" stunt, which are non-answers posing as answers. My advice is to just own up and reply, "good question, let me find out and get back to you," and actually find out and get back to them. Far from thinking that you're incompetent, in my experience students will respect your honesty and appreciate your effort in following up on the query. Students are smart enough to know that nobody (not even a PhD) knows everything about everything. They are also smart enough to know when somebody is talking out of their rear end.

Any questions?

Image sources:

batman.wikia.com

www.9gag.com

memegenerator.net

Game Innovation Programme 2014

Applications for the Game Innovation Programme 2014 at SUTD are now open. This is an excellent 3-month stint where you get to go through the full game development process to create a high quality game as part of a multi-talented team. The official webpage is http://gamelab.sutd.edu.sg/gip/

For more of my thoughts on the programme, take a look at my blog post on last year's programme.

Application deadline is noon on 28 February. Don't leave it to the last minute, since registration requires you to complete a test and submit a portfolio.

How to save the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club?

So the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Board Games Club (NPBGC) will be dissolved on 1 April 2014 (no, this is not an April Fool's joke). The club committee received an email from Student Development and Alumni Relations (SDAR) about a month ago notifying them of this decision. In case you are unaware (and it's apparent that most people are unaware), the NPBGC is a student CCA and special interest group that deals with board games.

There were two main reasons cited for this termination. Firstly, the club has not met the minimum membership of 30. Secondly, the Ngee Ann Library has a board games room (BGR), so the club could be disbanded and board game players can just use the room instead. Obviously, this is absolutely preposter... completely ludicrou... somewhat unjustif... pretty reasonable, actually.

The club currently has only 20 registered members, which is amazing for a school CCA where the main activity is to play games. Most of the school population plays games on their mobile phone or laptops in their spare time, and yet the club could not get more than 20 people to sign up? As for the second reason, there is a case for keeping the NPBGC separate from the BGR. Although the room is well-utilized, students only visit it for maybe an hour at a time in-between lessons. Therefore, only the relatively shorter games are played in the room. A separate board games club would allow its members to try out the longer, more involved games, so the NPBGC and the BGR have different objectives.

One problem faced by the BGR is that the students there only play games they already know because they don't want to spend their precious time learning a new game that they might not enjoy. Consequently, they end up playing games such as *gasp* Monopoly (well, they start a game, anyway), Game of Life or Jenga. In fact, Jenga is their most popular game, and the library has 3 copies of it to keep up with demand (!). This is despite the fact that the library has stellar games such as Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride available. What the BGR really needs is someone who is willing and able to introduce and teach games to the students. Sounds like a service the NPBGC members can provide, doesn't it? Except they don't.

The fact is that the NPBGC has dropped the ball big-time. Their mandate really should be to promote board gaming as a hobby, and they haven't been doing that. Unlike other clubs and CCAs, the NPBGC is suffering from a bad rep due to mistaken identity: everybody thinks board games = Monopoly (or Chess, or Scrabble, or Snakes & Ladders). A student who is thinking of joining Badminton or the Computer Club has a pretty good idea of what they would be getting into. Unfortunately, students who would really enjoy board games don't even consider joining NPBGC because they think they'd end up playing Monopoly every week, and nobody's that masochistic.

It doesn't help that NPBGC members tend to be introverts, in that they are happy playing with the same small group of a dozen or so people every week. They form close friendships, but do not look to expand their circle of friends. As introverts, they don't feel inclined to evangelize. Well, facing the imminent closure of the club, they'll have to.

So the NPBGC has 3 months to save itself. As a very interested third party, I've talked to the club committee at length and came up with a few suggestions:

1. Recruit Members using the BGR

Let's start by providing a service to the BGR and increase membership in the process. Schedule each NPBGC member a couple of hours a week to go to the BGR; they should wear a badge or something to make it all official. While there, he should see what kind of games the students are borrowing and suggest a different (possibly better) game that may interest them. He should teach them the rules, and facilitate so that they get the game right.

If this works well, he can then explain that there are dozens of other games available, and maybe give an overview of the different options. If there is time, he can suggest another game. Once the students' interest is piqued, ask them to put their information (name, school and email address) on the sign-up sheet. This should be a no-commitment expression of interest so that they don't run away like scared rabbits. Later on, emails should be sent to inform them of the club Facebook page and meetings. With luck, some of these students will turn up to meetings, see the cool variety of board games available and sign up as members. Voila!

This really should work, because the visitors to the BGR are students who are already willing to play board games in their spare time. Better still, they were willing to play bad board games, so theoretically they should jump at the chance to play good ones. Last Halloween, the NPBGC held a board gaming event at the BGR and it was pretty well-attended. There was even a group of students who enjoyed King of Tokyo so much that they came back to play it some more after their lessons. Unfortunately, the NPBGC did not get their information. That's a golden opportunity lost right there.

2. Hold an Awareness Event at a High-Traffic Venue

Some of the events held by the NPBGC had no hope of succeeding because of the selected venue, such as a room hidden somewhere deep in the library or a classroom in some random building. Publicity for such events is almost non-existent, and even when I was aware of an event I sometimes had trouble finding it. What the club needs to do is to make a big, colourful, eye-catching banner, and then just play some games somewhere with lots of traffic (such as the tables between the Convention Centre and Munch). Try to pick games with cool components and themes to attract on-lookers.

The key is to have a couple of members whose job is to explain the gist of the game to curious students, and also to suggest other games to them. Have some simple little games like Toc Toc Woodman or Rattlesnake and some easy-to-explain games like Las Vegas and No Thanks on hand just in case, along with the usual meatier games. While the passing traffic is unlikely to have half an hour free to learn and play a game right at that moment, inform them that the NPBGC will be there to introduce and teach games all day, and to come back when they have the time. As usual, try to get as many people to use the sign-up sheet as possible.

The idea behind this event is volume. I suspect there are students who could take one look at a game of Ticket to Ride or Settlers of Catan and immediately see the strategic possibilities. These are the students who might be intrigued enough to find out more about the hobby.

3. Produce Something Useful

It's not obvious how the NPBGC aids student development. One could argue that club members learn skills like strategy, tactics, negotiation and social skills simply by playing games, but it's a weak argument since there is no proof.

One way to prove that playing board games helps student development is to have members write articles. It could be a game review, a strategy article, a session report, a top ten list, whatever, but it has to show that the members aren't just rolling two dice and moving a pawn without passing Go. I would also vote to revive the NPBGC blog because the Facebook page requires a request for membership (did I mention that board gamers tend to be introverts?). Post the articles to the blog or even to www.boardgamegeek.com. I know the library would be happy to host articles on their website. For the more media-inclined, creating a video review and posting it on Youtube might be an interesting project (preferably something a bit more polished than this admirable effort).

There are other ideas, such as a game session for disadvantaged kids (like what Paradigm Infinitum does for the Chen Su Lan Methodist Children's Home), but such major events can't be organized in a short time. Still, it's an idea worth considering in the long term.

4. Learn Games, and Learn How to Teach Games

Saving the most important to last, all NPBGC members should learn more games. Read more rulebooks and get used to figuring out how a game works by reading the rulebooks alone. Watching online instructional videos would help too. Most of the NPBGC members rely on the senior members to explain the rules to them; some of them have never picked up a rulebook. Very few have ever tried to explain a somewhat complex game to someone else, and even fewer have the ability to do it successfully. An unfortunate side-effect is that some good games that the seniors have not learnt are left to collect dust because nobody is willing to crack them open and learn them using the rulebooks.

I personally feel that the ability to learn and teach games is one of the most important skills that a student can pick up from the NPBGC. This is not an easy task; the best game teachers will be able to reorganize the rulebook and use examples of game situations to illustrate concepts. It's like schoolwork, except that it's games, and after you explain a game to someone you get to play it and have fun! How cool is that?

Incidentally, I have a bit of a reputation as the go-to guy for board games in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and a few colleagues from various schools and departments have asked me if it was possible for the NPBGC to help facilitate a staff bonding session for them. Unfortunately, I had to be honest and tell them that in my opinion, the NPBGC members are not ready to facilitate such an event, mainly because there are not enough members who are able to teach games properly. On the other hand, if enough members practice and become adept at teaching games, I would be delighted to recommend them for such staff bonding events. CCA points ripe for the taking!

Hopefully, if the above suggestions are taken up, the club will be able to increase their membership sufficiently and prove their worth in order to reverse SDAR's decision to dissolve the club. I really hope this works, because I'd miss being able to chill out and play games with like-minded students as equals, and to heckle and taunt them mercilessly while saving (or destroying) the world.

If you are an NP student reading this, why not pop by and take a look? Mondays from 6 to 9pm at Room #73-02-05. Save the NPBGC! 

A love story

I would like to tell you a story. It's a love story based on real events. You may have heard most of it before, and I may not have all my facts straight, but the sentiments are real. It's not Hollywood blockbuster material - there are no car chases or explosions - but I feel that it is a story worth telling.

Once upon a time, there lived a girl named Mildred, but all her friends called her Meow because she's just the kind of person who would embrace a nickname like that. She was born 40+ years ago in Singapore with a couple of physical problems. Firstly, she was born with extremely poor eyesight, with tunnel vision so severe that she is legally blind. Secondly, her kidneys weren't quite working properly.

On the other hand, she was blessed with an even temper, a keen intelligence and a gentle but slightly wicked sense of humour. I imagine that she had a pretty normal childhood where she did not let her physical problems get in the way. I'm sure she went through the normal teenager issues of making friends, trying to get good grades and basically growing up. She does, however, get annoyed rather easily at what she considers improper behaviour. For example, she once recalled to me that when she was 18 and studying for her 'A'-levels, she got distinctly irritated at her neighbour's bratty 7-year-old boy who was playing next door and making so much noise.

Time passed, and Meow continued to grow up. At some point she picked up a Master's degree from the United States, spent some time teaching English as a second language to non-native speakers, and just lived a normal life with grace and integrity. Oh, and that bratty neighbour's kid? His name is Drew, and he grew up too. After spending much of his schooling life in Australia, he returned to Singapore in his late teens or early twenties, and got reacquainted with Meow, the girl next door. I don't know the details of how they got together, but I imagine they bumped into each other around the neighbourhood, and a couple of casual conversations later there were sparks flying and angelic choirs in the background.

I met Drew in the army when I went back for 3 months to complete my disrupted service. We shared an interest in pop culture, computer games and the tendency to make completely unrealistic, grandiose plans, so we became friends pretty much immediately. We also talked about relationships sometimes (hey, guys do that too). Drew probably didn't realize it, but whenever he talked about the girl he was dating, who was 11 years older and blind, even then he was giving off subtle cues that he loved her and treasured her; he knew that he was on to a good thing and he was not going to let her go no matter what. Eventually we introduced everybody to each other, and that's how Meow, Drew, my then-girlfriend and now-wife Bernice, and I first became friends. But to be honest, we weren't really close at that point.

Time continued to pass, and life continued to move on. A few years later, Drew and Meow got moved to Sydney and got married. Having never been to Sydney, Bern and I took a holiday there and met up with them to just have a nice, relaxing time with nice people and pleasant conversation. It was so much fun spending time with them that we did it again the next year. And the next. I recall helping them move apartments once (and by "we" I mean me). This involved Drew and me lugging a full-sized bed and mattress into a small elevator, down the street, and into another small elevator, whereupon we realised that we should probably have unscrewed the legs of the bed first. When they moved to Perth, we naturally continued our yearly pilgrimage, staying over at their house like the couple of leeches we are.

It was just fun. We spent hours and days just sitting around the living room and chatting about issues big and small. We ate Domino's pizza and Hog's Breath mega-cut steaks. We embarked on TV series marathons, watching back-to-back-to-back episodes of Veronica Mars into the wee hours of the night. We played board games. We chuckled over how Meow had to fight to stop herself from scarfing down all of my mom's home-made pineapple tarts that we brought over from Singapore (she did love her food). Nothing unusual or earth-shattering happened, it was just a nice time with nice people. And we kept coming back, taking that flight from Singapore every year, because finding genuinely good people to spend time with is a rare and wonderful thing, a thing that we treasured dearly.

I wish the story could have continued like this indefinitely, but as time continued to pass and Meow's kidney problems worsened, something had to be done. A few years ago she was finally able to get a kidney transplant. She had prepared for this pretty much all her life, and all the necessary steps were taken to ensure a successful transplant. After the operation, for about a year, everything seemed great.

And then something happened. Meow developed a rare complication that prevented her body from absorbing nutrients by eating, which would cause her new kidney to eventually fail. Medical opinions were sought, experts were consulted, but the diagnosis remained. There is no cure. It was nobody's fault. It was just something that happened.

Over the last year, she grew weaker and weaker. She had to throw up every few hours, and was permanently hooked up to a machine. It was a miserable existence, one that nobody should have to go through. And yet, when we visited her earlier this year, for what turned out to be the last time, we were able to chat for a few hours. It probably took a lot out of her, but she didn't let it show.

It seemed like old times.

Mildred Ann Koh passed away on Sunday morning, 10th November 2013. Time has stopped passing for her much, much too soon, but it was a meaningful and worthwhile existence. She touched the lives of many by simply being a good person, living her life with kindness, helpfulness and integrity. In Drew, she had a husband who loves her completely and utterly, but for the rest of us that had the fortune to know her, we all love her in our own way.

I will not remember her as the blind one, or the sick one, or the one who had the audacity to marry someone 11 years her junior. Those are facts, but they are not the facts that define her; if she was none of these things, Bern and I would still be flying over every year to spend a good time with good friends. Instead, Meow is the nice one, the helpful one, the kind one, the sensible one, the one with the sense of humour, and the determination, and the unwavering principles.

I will miss her gentle chiding of Drew when he does something absent-minded. I will miss playing a silly board game with her and laughing as she tries to figure out what that blob of clay is supposed to represent. I will miss her intelligence, her insights, her laugh, her smile. I imagine that she is looking down at us right now with perfect eyesight, sipping a cool drink and munching on sushi with chocolate cake for dessert, chuckling at how awkward the morning service was and how uncomfortable I look wearing a suit. The world is a slightly less pleasant place without her around. I will miss her. We will all miss her.

Farewell, Meow. Rest in peace.

[Transcript of eulogy delivered on 19th November 2013]

The ICT Board Games Challenge 2013

Every year, ICT has a staff retreat where all the lecturers, managers and support staff spend a day or two away from the office so that everybody can get to know each other better in a casual setting. This year we went to Malacca for two days. The first day was spent seeing the sights in Malacca, including visiting a Baba Nyonya museum and a hike up a heritage trail. On the morning of the second day, I organized the ICT Board Games Challenge 2013, where five teams competed for fame, glory and some modest prizes. But mainly fame and glory.

Five games were played in the competition: For Sale, Las Vegas, Liar's Dice, Sneaks & Snitches, and Incan Gold. The competitors were divided into 8 teams of 5 members each. There were three teams from the IT department, two from FI, one from MMA, one from A3DA and one comprising admin and IT support staff (ISG - I have no idea what this acronym means). Each team sent one representative per game. For each game, there were two semi-finals with 4 players each, and the top 2 players in each semi-final advanced to the 4-player final. The exception is Incan Gold, which was played as a single 8-player game.

Players scored 5 points for 1st place, 3 points for 2nd place, 2 points for 3rd/4th place and 1 point for participation. Ties were broken with a coin toss where required.

The venue was Ballroom 2 in Hotel Hatten (where we stayed for the night). It was set up in a traditional ballroom configuration, and the room and tables were probably too large for board games, but everyone was happy to stand around or lean forward. I spent the entire time running around explaining rules, updating results and setting up pairings, so unfortunately I didn't have time to take pictures or monitor the matches closely. But here's approximately what happened.

For Sale

For Sale is played in two phases. In the first phase, players attempt to get valuable properties using a bidding process; you either raise the previous bid or take the lowest-valued property on show and take back half your bid. In the second phase, the players try to sell the properties for as much money as possible. The player with the most money at the end of the game is the winner. For more information, check out its boardgamegeek link or this video review.

The first semi-final was actually a 6-player game and was won by Connie, who was a first-time player. Unfortunately, she was not part of any team, so for the sake of fairness I had to advance the ones in 2nd and 3rd place (Wan Lee from IT01 and Choon Peng from IT02) to the final. Not exactly tournament conditions, I know, but the players didn't mind. The second semi-final was won by Mike (FI02) with $80K, with second place shared by Chee Chian (IT03) and Gabriel (ISG) with $74K each; Chee Chian advanced to the final after a coin toss.

The final was a close affair, where the rounds with high-valued properties saw some aggressive bidding and counter-bidding. The final scores were really close: Chee Chian ($69K), Choon Peng ($63K), Mike ($61K) and Wan Lee ($56K). So the winner of For Sale and title of Supreme Speculator went to Cheng Chee Chian.

For Sale is an interesting game that is deeper than it looks. It's one of those games where you might want to try different strategies, and experience does count (other than Mike, the other finalists have played the game several times before). Although there are chances to banter ("raise my bid, I dare you!"), it tends to be a quiet game with interesting decisions rather than a laugh-out-loud affair. Still, the participants did seem to enjoy themselves.

Las Vegas

In Las Vegas, there are six casinos numbered 1 to 6, each with a number of bank notes assigned to it. Each player rolls initially 8 dice, allocates all dice of one number to the corresponding casino, and retains the remaining dice for future rolls. This continues until all dice are allocated. At the end of the round, the player with most dice at each casino gets the highest valued bank note, and so on. Here's the catch: if you have an equal number of dice as someone else, neither of you get anything. More on Las Vegas at its boardgamegeek page and this video.

This game was by far the noisiest game in the competition, probably because Terence was there facilitating and instigating everything (if you know Terence Choo, you know what I mean). Everyone got into the spirit of things, making alliances, pleading, threatening and cursing (or cheering) dice rolls in the midst of uproarious laughter. Arguably the most popular game in the whole event.

The first semi-final involved Terence (IT02), James (MMA), Phil (A3DA) and, filling in for someone who was absent due to illness, our director Angela for the FI01 team. Despite the possible risks of beating the person who signs their paychecks, the game was won by Terence and James at $470K each, followed by Angela at $360K and Phil at $340K. Like they say, all is fair in love, war and board games (I'm paraphrasing). The second semi-final was close affair where the identity of the winner was in the balance until the last round, possibly the last roll. It was ultimately won by Fabian (IT03) with $420K, followed by William (IT01, $400K), Mei Lan (ISG, $390K) and Marcus (FI02, $290K).

The final was worthy of a HBO mini-series. The previous alliance between James and Terence in the first semi-final proved illusory. Deals were made and rapidly broken. The players used all the tricks of the trade, including but not limited to threats, guilt trips, and prayer (Terence shook his dice and declared his desired results as if he was asking for divine favour). At the end, the winner was determined by a combination of strategic placement and luck of the dice. One pivotal play in the last round occurred when William rolled a 2 on his last die, which created a tied situation with James with 5 dice each (James literally banged his head on the table when that happened). This allowed Fabian to roll a 2 on one of his remaining two dice to claim the big money. Final scores: Fabian $540K, Terence $360K, William $290K and James $230K. The winner of the Las Vegas competition and King of Casinos is Fabian Ng.

Liar's Dice

Liar's Dice is the dice version of the card game Bluff. Everyone rolls their dice and the first player makes a bid, e.g., "six 3's", which means that he believes there are at least six 3's out of all the dice rolled by all players; 1's are wild, so "six 3's" really means "six 3's or 1's". On your turn, you could raise the bid (e.g., "six 5's", "seven 2's" or even "three wilds"); when you raise, you could also reveal one or more dice and re-roll the rest. Alternatively, you could challenge the bid, whereupon everyone reveals their dice and whomever lost the challenge loses a die. The game then restarts with the next round. The last person with dice remaining wins. Liar's Dice is an old game with many variants, which you can read about on its boardgamegeek page.

Was it a coincidence that 3 out of the 8 competitors were female, and all 3 made it to the finals? There were certainly plenty of jokes made by the guys about the inscrutability of the female mind and how women were better liars than men. Anyway, first-time players Christina (A3DA) and Siti (ISG) made it through the first semi-final. The second semi-final went the full distance with all four competitors having one die remaining. After the smoke cleared, Joanne (MMA) and Andy (IT02) survived to reach the final.

In the final, Christina was the first one out, but Siti was unstoppable - she still had four dice when both Andy and Joanne had only one remaining. Joanne challenged Andy's "two wilds" bid and knocked him out when Siti revealed no wilds among her four dice. Siti then won comfortably by bidding "three 5's" that Joanne had to challenge, and there were indeed three 5's among her four dice. The Liar's Dice champion and Luckiest Liar is therefore Siti Nur Shahidah.

Sneaks & Snitches

In Sneaks & Snitches, you play the role of high-class thieves. There are a number of locations each with some items worth stealing. During each turn, all players simultaneously decide to place one snitch and one sneak at two different locations. A snitch at a location stops all sneaks. If your sneak is at a location without snitches, you get the items at that location. If there are multiple sneaks, though, they hinder each other and the players get a lesser reward. At the end of the game, the players with the most of each type of item get points, and the one with the most points is the winner. Think of this as the board game version of the Iocaine powder scene in Princess Bride. Find out more from its boardgamegeek page or this video.

This is probably the quietest game in the competition. During the game, you can see the players looking intently at the items dealt to each location, trying to outthink and outbluff everyone else. When the placements are revealed, there may be some muted groans or fist pumps ("yesss..."), but it seems almost to go against the spirit of the game to show any sort of exuberance. We're high-class thieves, after all.

The first semi-final was a 3-way tie between Steven (IT03), Susie (MMA) and Anh (ISG) with 7 points each. The qualifiers had to be determined randomly, and unfortunately Susie lost out. The second semi-final was really close with 2 points separating all the players. It was won by Swee Noi (FI02) with 7 points, followed by Ching Yun (IT02) and Anita (A3DA) with 6 points each; the coin toss put Ching Yun through.

In the final, Anh was not available, so her spot was taken over by Si Hao. Steven just could not get anything going, and he was never in the running. At the end, I believe Ching Yun with 6 points was just one cube away from tying with Swee Noi and Si Hao with 8 points each. Once again, a major decision was left to chance. A couple of die rolls later, Si Hao claimed the win. So the Sneaks & Snitches champion and the Sneakiest Scoundrel is Ho Si Hao. Special thanks to Weng Choh for overseeing the game across the entire event.

The main issue with Sneaks & Snitches as a competitive game is the tendency to produce ties. All three games required a coin toss of some sort to determine important placings, and the rule book does not suggest any tie-breaking rules. Next time, I'll figure out some tie-breakers (if there is a next time).

Incan Gold

In Incan Gold, you play the part of an adventurer exploring an Incan temple, much like Indiana Jones. Cards are revealed one at a time. A card may depict pieces of treasure that is divided equally among all the players, with the remainder staying on the temple floor. It could be a valuable but indivisible artifact. It may also depict a hazard such as a fire trap or giant snake; the first such hazard is harmless, but if a duplicate of a hazard is drawn, then everyone still in the temple leaves empty-handed. Before each card is dealt, everyone decides simultaneously whether to leave or continue. If you leave, you get to keep your treasure along with whatever is on the temple floor, but you might get even more if you continue exploring...or will you get that second hazard? More information on this excellent push-your-luck game can be found on its boardgamegeek page or this video.

Unfortunately, I did not see much of the Incan Gold gameplay. After a trial game to introduce the new players to the rules, the players went ahead and played the final. The winner was Henry (MMA) with 25 points. Come to think of it, Henry has played this game several times and usually does well, so he has a knack for judging risk and reward (or maybe he's just a lucky fellow). Both Victor (IT03) and Kee Chuah (FI02) had 17 points, but Victor got second place on tie-break with one artifact to zero. 4th place went to Borko (A3DA) with 16 points. The Incan Gold winner and title of Exceptional Explorer goes to Henry Thet Swe.

Incidentally, I did see Anna, Borko's 10-year-old daughter, trying out a game of Incan Gold. She was also enjoying herself watching the antics over at the Las Vegas table. It's never too early to develop the next generation of board gamers. :)

After all the points were tallied, the team that won the overall championship and the title of Team of the Year is IT03, aptly named Champion Material with 16 points, which included the winners of For Sale and  Las Vegas. Second place went to the ISG team with 13 points, comprising the winners of Liar's Dice and Sneaks & Snitches.

On the whole, I feel that the (inaugural? annual?) ICT Board Games Challenge 2013 was a reasonable success. I think all the people who come regularly to the monthly staff bonding tabletop gaming sessions enjoyed themselves as usual; some may even have taken a bit more out of it due to the competitive element. There were a few people for whom this event was their first exposure to board games, and hopefully this has piqued their interest enough so that they will attend the monthly sessions in the future.

I understand that there is a proportion of the staff for whom board games just isn't for them, and I respect that. I just hope that everyone was at least able to see what board games are about (i.e., board games is not Monopoly) so that they can make an informed decision as to whether to participate.

You can see the final results here (sorry about the formatting; we had to increase the font size because the projection screen was on the small side).

Advice: on overruling others

This is my second blog post where I give out sage advice (after this one on love and relationships). What makes me think that I'm qualified to tell you how to live your life? Nothing, other than the fact that it's my blog and I can write what I want, so there. :)

Today's advice concerns making decisions where you might overrule others. In my various roles as module leader, cluster chair and section head, I've found myself having to do this quite frequently. It could be as simple as deciding where to have a meeting, or as sensitive as changing the way a lesson is taught when the rest of the team is against the change.

The advice is as follows: "Always consider the possibility that you might be wrong."

Nobody's perfect, and we all make mistakes. The reason we work in teams is so that we have multiple people with different levels of experience, viewpoints and expertise all trying to find the best way to proceed. Just because I'm the module leader or section head does not automatically mean that I'm smarter or better than the rest of the team, and it would be incredibly arrogant of me to dismiss the conflicting views of everybody else without giving them due consideration. It is important to avoid letting the power go to your head.

By the way, the corollary to the above advice is: "Always consider the possibility that you might be right." There is a fine line between giving others' viewpoints due consideration and being spineless and afraid to make the tough decisions. It's actually easiest to go with the consensus, that way you please everyone and the blame is shared should anything go wrong. However, if you have weighed the merits of all arguments and are still convinced that your decision is correct, then you must have the courage to be the villain and overrule everyone else.

When you do overrule, it is imperative that you explain your reasoning as clearly as possible to everyone concerned. I've been on the wrong end of this multiple times in the past. One of my previous bosses would declare an intention to make a big and (in my opinion) wrong decision. I would politely raise my objection, whereupon said boss would casually and completely disregard it. I would press him for his reasoning, and the only reply I would get is "I know what I'm doing." It drove me nuts.

It all boils down to making the best decision you can with the information that you have at that point in time. The trick is to consider all information calmly and objectively, even if it goes against your personal opinion. Besides, if you always reject other people's viewpoints, they'll eventually stop offering them. Then anything that goes wrong would be completely your fault. And you would deserve it.

Blogging blues

Boy, it's tough to maintain a blog regularly. It's been over two months and I haven't uploaded a new post (until now). This is despite the fact that it's term break, so I should theoretically have more time.

That's theoretically. In reality, I've got a bunch of projects, a module I've never taught before (User Interface Design) to prepare, a staff retreat in Malacca to organize and numerous other miscellaneous chores. There never seems to be an occasion where "make a blog post" is at the top of my to-do list. It's annoying how real life weighs me down and gets in the way of blogging.

You can't make a "blog" without a "log."

It also doesn't help that I've been trying to write my entries like a full-fledged article in the style of a site like www.cracked.com, complete with pictures and humorous captions (well, I think they're humorous anyway). Writing these articles take up quite a bit of time, which is in short supply. Quite often I have something that I want to blog about, but I don't because I want sufficient time to do the article justice. I tell myself that I'll get around to it when things settle down...and then months pass and my intended article loses relevance.

So here's my new plan. I'm going to get over myself and just make blog posts whenever I have something to say. The posts don't have to be long pieces of literature, and it may not have a single picture or joke. It might be just a couple of paragraphs of boring text.

On the other hand, at least I'll get it out there.

(Image source: http://media.boreme.com/post_media/2009/man-lifts-heavy-log.jpg)

What it means to be a PhD

I had just dismissed a class and was chatting with some students when I revealed that I took public transport to work. One of the students was genuinely surprised, and he asked me why I chose to take public transport. After all, and I quote, "You're a PhD, right? You can drive a Ferrari if you want to."

My reaction to the above.

After I recovered my composure, I realized that your average person on the street does not really know what it means when someone is a PhD. All they really know is that there are two types of doctors: a PhD and a real doctor. Both use the honorific "Dr", but my ability to model an imperfect comparison algorithm using a Markov chain is probably not what you need if you're bleeding to death from massive head trauma.

The average person's view of a PhD holder is heavily influenced by a number of stereotypes invented for fictional characters in books, movies and TV shows, along with a few super-famous real-life PhD's who spoil the market for everyone. And while there is some element of truth in most stereotypes, they don't usually tell the whole story. Let me examine each stereotype and talk about how closely it matches your typical real-life PhD. Note that I am assuming that the doctorate is in a technical discipline and obtained from a reputable university, i.e., not purchased from a website with a shopping cart.

Stereotype #1: PhD's are super smart geniuses.

Perpetuated by: Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and pretty much every fictional PhD

Level of truth: 70%

If you've got a PhD, the reasoning is that you must be an extremely intelligent straight-A student who can play chess blindfolded and recite pi to a few hundred decimal places while patting your head and rubbing your tummy. Popular culture reinforces this view: other than parodies, you never see a stupid PhD on TV.

Show-offs.

Not to sound immodest, but there is some truth in this stereotype. In order to get into a PhD programme, you usually require a pretty good GPA on your Bachelor's transcript. Although I'm not a straight-A student, I did manage to get above the minimum requirement of a 3.2 GPA back when I started my PhD at the National University of Singapore. So yeah, like every other PhD, I'm pretty good at book learning. However, I certainly would not consider myself a genius, especially on those occasions when I walk into a room and forget what I went into the room for.

Your average PhD is just a reasonably intelligent person who knows a lot about a particular aspect of his chosen field. Granted, there do exist PhD's who are true geniuses, but bear in mind that nobody is good at everything. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, so don't be intimidated by a PhD just because he is better than you at math or programming or whatever. After all, even though I am no match for Stephen Hawking in the field of quantum physics, I'm pretty sure I can take him on at kickboxing.


Stereotype #2: PhD's are mad scientists.
Perpetuated by: Dr Frankenstein, Dr Evil, the entire faculty at Hogwarts
Level of truth: 25%

For those people who can't wait to get out of school, it is easy to believe that you have to be at least slightly mad to spend half a decade of the best years of your life to get a PhD. University undergrads often find their professors somewhat eccentric (I know I did). We also see plenty of examples in popular culture of PhD's with conditions such as necrophilia, megalomania and reallybadlatin-itis.

"Stereotypus Riddikulus!"

There are two parts to the "mad scientist" stereotype, namely the "mad" part and the "scientist" part. Let me first address the "scientist" part, which is the belief that mad scientist types are capable of doing something that defies the laws of physics, is extremely dangerous, and/or is just plain nuts. They also make really good plot devices for some of your favourite B-movies.

Actually, that's not so far off the mark. In order to keep his job, a research professor has to publish lots of papers, which means that he is constantly looking for new discoveries to advance his field. Admittedly, most of these new discoveries are less than earth-shattering ("my algorithm finds solutions to this obscure problem that are 1.87 percent better than the previous best algorithm!"), but every once in a while you get a polio vaccine or public key encryption, which is all kinds of cool. Like Sir Arthur C. Clarke (who's not a PhD) once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." So yeah, PhD's do sometimes invent and discover new stuff, simply because it's part of their job description.

As for the "mad" part, you have my assurance that we're not mad (although that's what a madman might say if someone asked him if he's mad. Hmm...). Perhaps we tend to think outside the box more and have some crazy ideas, but that's how you come up with innovations. Nah, we're just as sane as the next person. In fact, that's how I came up with 25% for the level of truth of this stereotype: according to the World Health Organization, one in four people will suffer from some form mental condition in their lifetime. So look around you. If you see three people who seem completely sane, you know what that means...


Stereotype #3: PhD's are socially stunted
Perpetuated by: Sheldon Cooper, Walter Bishop (Fringe), that scientist played by Data who gets mind-controlled by the alien in Independence Day
Level of truth: 20%

The Big Bang Theory has made being a PhD seem kinda cool. Actually, if you watch the show, it portrays college professors as being so geeky and nerdy that they experience some kind of underflow error and come out the other side. Most PhD's in popular media range from stuffy old men in suits that speak in faux British accents using multi-syllabic words to awkward pre-pubescent prodigies with thick glasses and a pocket protector (what the heck is a pocket protector, anyway?). You never see a genuinely hip, suave PhD anywhere.

Party animals.

Well, this stereotype is true to the extent that PhD's tend to be socially responsible. We understand the annoyance of a bunch of teenagers having a loud party next door while we're rushing to write a paper before the conference deadline tomorrow. To us, YOLO means that we should make sure that we don't throw our one life away by driving drunk or abusing controlled substances. We're annoyingly sensible in that we know that being stupid is, well, stupid.

Within the boundaries of socially accepted behaviours, though, PhD's span the entire spectrum of cool. My PhD supervisor is this ultra-cool German dude who runs marathons and rides a kick-ass motorcycle. You know Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen? PhD in astrophysics. There are PhD's who know martial arts, or are licensed pilots, or skydive.

And then there's me, who's a short, somewhat overweight polytechnic lecturer who plays board games and blogs. Like I said, the entire spectrum.


Stereotype #4: PhD's are sexy swashbuckling adventurers
Perpetuated by: Indiana Jones
Level of truth: 0.001%

Yeah, people don't really think this. I wish.


Stereotype #5: PhD's have no practical experience and are not worth hiring.
Perpetuated by: Lots of employers
Level of truth: 40%

After spending a good 4+ years working hard to get your PhD, you might assume that employers will be willing to pay a premium for your services. Unfortunately, this is rather far from the truth. Take a look at the comments for this post from a blog written by a PhD friend of mine and you should get a decent picture of how prospective employers view PhD's.

Suppose you're looking to hire a programmer. One candidate has spent the last four years in a software development firm programming and developing applications, so he's well-versed in the latest Java API's and PHP code. The other is a fresh PhD who has a couple of conference and journal publications but no work experience. Which one would you hire? The first guy, right? After all, you know he's got the skills you're looking for, and he's probably going to be cheaper. Why pay over the top for a fancy PhD?

A PhD? Next!

This, I believe, is the mindset of your typical employer, and it may very well be the correct decision depending on the position you're looking to fill. However, let's not be hasty and consider what you get if you hire the PhD. In order to earn the right to have "Dr" in front of his name, he must "make a significant contribution to the field and advance the state of the art". This Illustrated Guide to a PhD does a good job of showing what "significant contribution to the field" implies, and all PhD's go through this process. What kind of person would be willing and able to do this, to spend half a decade of the best years of his life banging his head against the wall hoping to discover something that nobody else in recorded history has discovered before?

Well, he'll require the following traits: (1) sufficient intelligence (or at least book smarts) to get the GPA required to qualify for a PhD programme; (2) the persistence and discipline to plow through volumes of boring articles in order to make sure his idea hasn't already been done; (3) the ability to see all sides of the issue and present a convincing argument that his contribution is useful and significant; (4) the ability to implement his idea (e.g., by coding it) and evaluate it objectively using a scientific method; and (5) language and communication skills that are good enough to get his thesis approved by the thesis committee.

Does this make the second candidate better than the first? Not necessarily, but I would expect the PhD to be able to pick stuff up quickly, be thorough in his work, and possibly find some innovative way to contribute to the company. Maybe the first candidate can do so as well, but I certainly wouldn't dismiss the second candidate based on his lack of working experience. Oh, and just because a guy has a PhD does not mean that he's looking for a 5-figure salary; he may be cheaper to hire than someone with 4 years' experience.

In case you're wondering, I computed my 40% level of truth for this stereotype as follows. Yes, a fresh PhD has no work experience (50%), but he does have experience in working to get the PhD (-10%). And no, I do not agree that a PhD is not worth hiring simply because he's a PhD. This may be a biased view, but as a PhD I have the ability to see all sides of the issue and evaluate it objectively, so you can trust me. Right?

So there you have it. A "PhD", which stands for "Doctor of Philosophy", certifies that this person has the ability to philosophize, i.e., he can think of an argument and support it in an, objective, organized and logical manner. When the mood takes them, a PhD would debate about something for hours, figuring out the pros and cons, using analogies and what-if scenarios, and just figuring the heck out of the problem. These are the sort of people who would argue about whether it should be spelt PhD or Ph.D. or Phd or some other combination (and don't get me started on the plural).

Other than that, a PhD is pretty much like anyone else. Which brings me to...

This is gonna take a while.

Stereotype #6: PhD's are super-rich.
Perpetuated by: All those PhD's in popular media. If they're famous, they must be rich, right?
Level of truth: 1%

Probably true if you're a Nobel prize winner, or wrote a bestselling book, or have your own show on the History Channel. For the rest of us, no. Just, no. Hell no.

(Picture sources:
knowyourmeme.com
wikipedia.com
http://motoredbikemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Gene-Wilder-Its-Alive.jpg
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l4l620OMGA1qc1kau.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIYfpHT5rGl22ML7XxioDuqOk8CtTAmwoPMQUhyphenhyphenc90-jvVHX54tAV-fexLEq3POn8v-U8-OHeK1bqPwIZ5yeNa5QmTYyPRxePMpgAru3SYeOXJEhaKng5KDtWNkKLcEAZ7sHzBRwXMJE/s1600/independence+day+scientist.jpg
http://www.iaam.com/artimages/careers/Resume-Mistakes.jpg
http://www.prezzybox.com/data/media/12172.jpg)