Once upon a time, before the onset of the plague years, I ran a Laundry RPG campaign at work. You can read about it here. Since then, one of my players Dr. Noriha has been writing research papers about using games in language learning. She has been using our campaign notes! Along with Dr. Ina, I am also the co-author of a chapter in book entitled “Naratif Dalam ‘Gamifikasi Permainan Penglipur Lara’: Menjana Pemikiran Kreatif Dalam Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran“. Translation: “Narratives in Tabletop Role-playing Games: Generating Creativity in Teaching and Learning.” The title of the book is Wacana Ilmu dan Kemanusiaan (Knowledge & Humanity Discourse). First of all, I am grateful for the writing team for involving my activity in their research. This tracks with my own research of employing RPGs to improve speaking skills. Secondly, I will be pushing using “Permainan Penglipur Lara” as an official translation of “Tabletop […]
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RPG Webinar for Mahsa University
After the meeting with MAHSA University last month, it was finally time to speak at the webinar that they organised entitled: Tabletop Roleplaying Games for Teaching and Learning Languages This was the first time I did an RPGs in education talk for an inter-university programme. Despite how I seemed, I was nervous as heck and spent a lot of time coming up with the slides. A lot of the pages I wrote for it are brand new, requiring not just new text, but also new images. To view the talk on MAHSA University’s YouTube channel, click here. I hope this will be the first of many programmes where I attempt to convince educators of the benefits of employing RPGs as teaching tools.
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Visit to MAHSA University
Several weeks ago, I received an email from MAHSA University in Selangor. They would like to know more about using tabletop RPGs as teaching and learning tools, especially for their language classes. I set a date to meet with their faculty members earlier today, as we would be on vacation in Sepang. I also called my former student and current research assistant (not mine, actually) Aidil and we went for the meeting. Meanwhile, Irfan drove and waited in the car. During the meeting I introduced them to the world of TTRPGs by bring with me a bunch of books and starter sets which included maps, cards and pregenerated characters. Aidil helped a lot in explaining. No, I did not run a game for them, but I did explain to them how I ran RPG session in my classrooms with students. A request by them for me to talk in an […]
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Grad Student Association Meeting
I was invited to the Graduate Student Association annual general meeting for our university. I have never been to one of these things before. This is because I never thought I would be an academic until three years ago. Also, I never thought that I would even have a Bachelor’s degree eight years ago or so. I was almost appointed the President, but being a part-time student I do not believe I would be able to handle the work. This would be unfair on the other members. Instead, I was appointed to the Academic Bureau Committee in the association. A lesser position, I should think. I have no idea what the job entails, so I should ask them the next time we meet.
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Research Method Presentation
My first semester as a postgraduate student ends with a presentation of my research proposal. The presentation was given during the final Research Method class that I have been attending every Saturday morning. During my studies, I discovered that reading for the literature review is difficult. This is because lack of time thanks to teaching and work duties that I have to complete. I believe the only solution is to set aside an hour or two for reading every night. How else can I absorb and collate enough information to write a proper research proposal, and subsequently a thesis?
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Back in School Studying
I remember a time, a long time being out in the city working job-to-job with hardly any official, usable certification or diploma. It was difficult. Then one day, with Ain’s urgings I enrolled for a Bachelor’s Degree course. That was eight years ago. This year, I begin my Master’s Degree. I never thought I would make it this far, but I am grateful to everyone who pushed me in the right direction from family to friends. With the major reorganisation of my weblog, I have created a Research Checks category where I would be writing about my journey as a postgraduate student. Also, here is where I will list essays I will write about the topic. Perhaps my supervisor would be able to monitor my work and provide guidance based on my posts here. My postgraduate research will investigate the effectiveness of tabletop roleplaying games as a language tool for […]
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