EA Lecturer Reflection #5 May 2019

Week 12 is about project presentation. All group present their findings. Overall, I am satisfied with the outcome.  

EA Lecturer Reflection #4 May 2019

This week's topic is about EA Framework. The EA Framework topic is one of the topics that will be in the final exam. As usual the class will officially start at 2:30pm. So, before starting the class at 2:30pm, I asked the students if they have questions on the project or any matters related to the course. The lecturer was asked about the EA Communication plan. I knew that students would have problem in writing the EA Communication plan so, I uploaded samples of reports for the students to prefer. I ended up talking about the coursework and its due date.  

Important points: 

• Assignment 2 is due in Week 11. The assignment has already been posted on OneNote. 
• Test 2 will be held in Week 11. Probably the same day as Test 1. 
• Project is due in Week 12 Monday. This is to have ample time to produce a finalized coursework marks in Week 12. 

The lecture on EA Framework begins the main topics of the lecture which are Framework vs Model, The three types of model Conceptual, Logical and Physical and EA Framework particularly Zachman Framework. I might have difficulties in explaining the database concepts but I think for Week 10, before going into Zachman, I should show an example of a logical and physical class diagram and ERD diagram. After that is cleared, than I can go into Zachman Framework and Components. I need to have more activities for next week so that students will not get bored with the lecture. 

EA Lecturer Reflection #3 May 2019

The lecturer distribute Test 1 papers back to the students. The lecturer discussed each of the questions. Overall, the results were alright. Nonetheless, there are students who didn't get good grades for Test 1. Test 1 was not that difficult. May be the students have problems in understanding the questions thus are not able to answer the questions. I need to investigate these students. Most of the students who got bad grades and those who rarely come to class.  

Assignment 1 is due this Saturday. The assignment 1 is about values and risks of EA. From the assignment, hopefully students will be able to explain what are the values and risks of EA. Hopefully students will do ALL the activities.

EA Lecturer Reflection #2 May 2019

Test 1 was conducted in Week 6 for TEB1083. The test questions were easy IF and ONLY IF students study the materials. It is Test week for all. Like I mentioned on Twitter. When it is test week, students tend to skip classes the whole week. Other  classes don't matter. That is what happen this week. Nonetheless, there are other students who came to class. I guess, they didn't have any test that day. Test should not coincide with a lecture. If a lecture sets the schedule for test and it coincide with a lecture, the students should raise this up. I don't care about student not showing up because I don't see them and I don't hear them. They will get a barring letter, that is what they going to get. What I care is that students talking in class when I am beginning to the lecture. That pisses me off. It is disturbing. If students want to check their whatsapp in class for the whole 2 hours, go ahead. You are not disturbing anyone. If you are talking, you are disturbing the lecture and the other students who really want to listen.  

Organizational Subculture Paper 

For Week 6, I asked the student to read a paper about organizational subculture. This paper is an academic paper and from feedbacks, this is like the first academic paper that they actually read. Really?! Anyway, I divided the paper into sections and 2-3 students will attempt a section. Student has to describe the section and jot down important points. At the end, we discuss each of the section.  

Project Group 

The reason why I wanted them to do this activity is because the activity is the basis for assignment 1. Assignment 1 will be in groups and it touches on the Chapter 3 Values and Risk. But first, got to wait for the students to register their group. 

EA Lecturer Reflection #1 May 2019

SDB4313Z 

Two new students just registered for the course and I have been told there are two other students. The lecture was a continuation of the previous week. The student managed to complete Quiz 1. Quiz 1 requires the student to describe enterprise architecture. Overall, I think that the students can describe EA really well. The lecture stopped at the activity on line of business.  

TEB1083 

The lecture begins with scanning the QR code for attendance. After attendance has been taken, the lecturer revisited the previous week. The lecturer started with the pre-EA days where everything is not integrated. Next moving on into the history of EA. Not that important but can be useful to know how it all started. Next topic is on the description of EA. The description includes the definition of EA and it use in the organizations. The lecturer asked the students to remember the keywords. Just like in SDB4313Z, the lecturer did a formative assessment in the form of a quiz. This is to gauge their understanding on the topic. The lecturer did not want to repeat last semester in which student's understanding was only revealed through Test. Next few topics were on EA core elements and also EA activities. The last topic of the week was on the line of business. Students did the activity on LOB, where the lecturer asked the students to find a company and identify its LOB. The lecturer also emphasized some of the important terms in today's lecture such as LOB, Architectural Segment, Levels, Artifacts  etc. The lecturer expect that students would be familiar with the terms and write about these terms in their Your Notes section. 

Overall 

I think that the time between lecture and activity is a bit long. Should have more activities or at least activities that require the students to move around. 

EA Lecturer Reflection #7 January 2019

Test 2 was conducted this week.  The topics covered was values and risks, implementation methodology and EA framework. The questions were easy. The students can complete the test within an hour.  

Week 11 is also the due date for Assignment 2. Assignment 2 is about components and artifacts. Chapter 6 of the textbook and lecture notes. However, there are some students who are not sure of what components and artifacts are. Some students believe that diagrams are artifacts. Just because they are exposed to diagrams, thus all artifacts are in the form of diagrams. This assignment has shown me the student's level of understanding on the topic. Maybe I should make Assignment 2 as an exercise rather than assignment. But if the assignment 2 is made as an exercise, students will not take this seriously. To students, exercise are something that they need to do when they are free. If that is the case then why would I be bother about creating the exercise. Student must be able to think. Student must be able to find answers before consulting the lecturers. Student's got to do the work. Student has got to read, find information, discuss with colleagues and interact. Not rely 100% on the lecturer.  

I received a Whatsapp message from a student which indicates that the student has not started doing the assignment. **facepalm**. I was speechless. It kind of remind of a student who towards the end of the semester, mentioned to me that he has not had a group for the project. It is tiring to entertain this kind of student. After all the things that you have laid out for the students, it finally come to this. This is my second time lecturing first year students. I still could not understand them…still. Need to do this for another 2-3 times. Well, good luck to me.  

EA Lecturer Reflection #6 January 2019

This week is about Components and Artifacts. The students seem to have grasp the understanding of what components and artifacts are. What makes all these a part of enterprise architecture strategy. The content of this lecture will definitely help the students in doing their project because EA is about documentation of components and artifacts. 

EA Lecturer Reflection #5 January 2019

The topic for Week 8 is on Implementation Methodology. The lecture is delivered online. Videos have been posted the week before thus I expect students to watch the videos and this week is merely giving them activities to do. However, I have the impression that they didn't watch the videos. For those who watched the video on Week 7, I appreciate it but for those who just watched it the day that I assigned, I am sure that you are busy with other courses or probably procrastinating. Anyway, at the end of the video, the student has to do a quiz. Giving this sort of quiz is a good indicator for the lecturer on who is serious about the course and who does not. I have not looked at the quiz yet. I will update on the performance of the quiz. 

Week 9 will be about EA Framework. EA framework will be a face-to-face lecture. 

EA Lecturer Reflection #4 January 2019

There was no face-to-face lecture this week. The lecture was delivered 100% through videos. I am not sure whether the students do watch the videos or not. May be there are too many videos to watch but I  told the students to take their time in watching the videos. That is one of the advantages of these videos. Students can watch them at their own pace. Students should also write notes and other important points. It is part of learning. It is lecture except that the students are not in class. The challenge is how can you ensure that students are actually watching the videos? 

Happy Chinese New Year! 

EA Lecturer Reflection #3 January 2019

There was no face-to-face lecture this week. The lecture was delivered 100% through videos. I am not sure whether the students do watch the videos or not. May be there are too many videos to watch but I  told the students to take their time in watching the videos. That is one of the advantages of these videos. Students can watch them at their own pace. Students should also write notes and other important points. It is part of learning. It is lecture except that the students are not in class. The challenge is how can you ensure that students are actually watching the videos? 

Happy Chinese New Year! 

EA Lecturer Reflection #2 January 2019

Completed the topic 'Overview of EA' lecture. 

No face-to-face lecture for next week (Week 5). Test for SDB4313Z will be in Week 6 probably during class time. 

The lecturer has completed delivering the topic Overview of EA. The activities that were conducted have helped the lecturer and also students in gauging understanding on the topic. The activities that we did was about the components. Students have identify what are the components of a LOB that they selected last week. Some are able to give examples of components and artifacts with some assistance and guidance by the lecturer. The idea is that they attempt the activity. They might get it wrong. If the students get it wrong the better because the lecturer can help them out with their understanding.  

Week 5 will have no face-to-face lecture but the lecturer intends to video record the topic Structure and Culture of Enterprise.  

Test 1 will be on Week 6 on Wednesday 10-12pm.  The lecturer plans to do activities in Week 6. 

EA Lecturer Reflection #1 January 2019

The lecturer conducted first lecture of EA on Thursday 2-4pm. Conducting lecture sessions in the lab is always a challenge because there is always this feeling that student will do something else when the lecturer is delivering the lecture. Same feeling in class but in the lab, that feeling just amplified.  

We started with the existing situation pre-EA. Just to give the student some context what was happening before the days of EA. From that, we move on to why organizations need EA.  

The activity that the students did is to find an article that describe the problems or barriers or challenges that hinders organization to align their business and IT. The mis alignment of IT and business is one of the drivers that DRIVES organization to implement EA. I hope students learn something from this and appreciate the fact that EA could assist organization. 

Next, students were introduce to what EA is. The definition of EA has three keywords. What are those keywords. The lecture also explained about what does EA do the organization?  

For Week 3, the lecturer would continue with EA core elements and the activities and also not to forget the EA3 Cube Framework.