Sharing realistic experiences is an advantage
an advantage to be able to share personal and realistic experiences with her students, Dr Chin Phaik Nie said.
This is especially so with students who do not have working experience or those at the early stages of their career.
The Universiti Sains Malaysia Graduate School of Business senior lecturer has worked in various multinational corporations involved in the manufacturing and sub-contracting secrtors for nine years.
She has an additional 10 years of voluntary work experience with NGOs in dealing with children and teenager’s with special needs therapy.
“It is not only work-related experiences, but also the life experiences that we as lecturers have accumulated from our working life, that make us better educators.
“Most of my students work in multinational corporations and having been in such corporations, the understanding of the big picture and how things work in factories allow me to relate to their work better, know them better, be empathetic when it comes to their work schedules.
“I get to create more relevant examples, and explain the applications of theories in their actual working environment,” she explained.
Chin, who holds a doctorate in Economics, said having these skills as an educator is an advantage, she said, as it has trained her to be disciplined, detailed, firm and quick in decision making. It also equips her with good presentation skills.
This in turn allows her to improve her teaching methods and impart knowledge more effectively.
Explaining how she made the jump to academia, she said it wasthedeathof her colleague that spurred her to become an educame tor.
“It made think about what I really want to do until the day I retire and after much consideration, I entered academia in 2017 when I joined USM as a full time researcher and lecturer.”