Inspiring hope through education

To be an even more effective educator, ITE lecturer Choy Tsoi Kern first read a Master of Arts in Professional Education and is now pursuing a Doctor in Education, both at NIE

By Esther Teo

July 7, 2020

Institute of Technical Education (ITE) lecturer Choy Tsoi Kern sees effective education as one that brings hope to students.

“As educators, we are responsible for helping our students gain new skills for a career change, new perspectives for personal development or new opportunities for success,” she says.

This belief underlies the 32-year-old lecturer’s drive to develop herself professionally and to equip herself with in-depth knowledge and skills to coach her students better.

In 2016, two years after joining ITE from the creative industry, she embarked on a Master of Arts in Professional Education (Training and Development) (MAPE) at the National Institute of Education (NIE). She graduated valedictorian of her cohort last year.

Ms Choy is currently pursuing her Doctor in Education (Learning Sciences & Assessment Academic Group) at NIE.

A vibrant learning experience

Ms Choy thoroughly enjoyed her MAPE. Her cohort consisted of a varied group of fellow lecturers from higher education, trainers from the industry, military personnel, nurses and social workers.

“I gained new perspectives from our robust discussions. It was also interesting to see how the methodologies can be applied in diverse contexts,” she says.

One highlight was presenting her team’s capstone project — creating an e-learning package to teach marketing concepts — at EdMedia, an international conference on educational media and technology in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

She recalls: “It was our first time presenting at an overseas conference. It was such a great opportunity to learn new ideas, read interesting papers and have discussions with other authors.”

Ms Choy has found what she learnt at NIE very applicable to her work. She applied the training methodologies to coach her students for WorldSkills 2018, a national skills competition for youths. She also implemented her capstone project in one of her modules.

She says: “The theoretical foundation at NIE provided me with a better understanding of learning processes as well as pedagogical frameworks. In particular, it improved my teaching techniques.”

Visit www.nie.edu.sg/mape or www.nie.edu.sg/edd for more information on the Master of Arts in Professional Education (Training & Development) and Doctor in Education, respectively.