During my theses research, i’m still doing my daily activities as a lecturer… You know, what I like to be a lecturer is trying to encourage my students to do something that they think they can’t do, encouraging them to maximize their potentials to the fullest…
And the most beautiful thing for me as a lecturer is when my student showing their best, doing something that beyond my expectation, doing such creative things that I never imagine before… Capable to do something that they can’t do before… and that happen in Program Paket Aplikasi (PPA) Subject.
The first PPA project was compiling an e-book (from CHM format) into Ms-Word format. They must create "real world" book using Ms-Word. The challenges are:
- They have to create table of contents automatically
- The page number must placed side-to-side (different placing for odd and even page)
- The book must have different header/footer for each chapter
- They also must index and number the figures automatically
- All content of the book must be in ONE FILE only (not allowed to split in different files)
There are 4 e-books they can choose, but it wasn’t easy though. It was really not that simple since there are about 300-400 pages (and contains 14-22 chapters). But they made it! Some of them even created their own book-cover and give index page! Wow! I was amazed! I gave my own book as a gift for they who get best point for each class. It seems that this project was their first 70Mb++ document they ever created using Ms-Word in the whole of their life.
The second and third project was thought by my colleague. And for the last project, time to boost their brain again. I challenge them to create a project using Photoshop. It is up to them to create ANYTHING they like. Let the creativity talks! The grade based on: originality, technique complexity, and purpose value. So, they must carefully think what to create for their project. The objectives was not made them to be an expert in Photoshop design since this is not Visual Design subject, but rather than make them familiar with image processing software. To make the project more interesting and challenging, I gave one additional rule. For those who qualified, I ask them to make presentation in front of the class about how did they create the project within 10-15 minutes. So, the others also can learn the techniques s/he used. This is what I called, "knowledge-sharing class".
Last week was the submission deadline, and once again, some of them really amazed me with their work. So, I decided to carefully index their projects in this address. Next week, the battle
is ON, they’ll make presentation how they did it.
I love IT and I love my students. I believe that one of God’s calling in my life is to be a teacher… and it’s truly amazing to see how my students maximize their potential to the fullest in IT field. After this semester is over (on June 2008), I’m thinking to index all their first year projects (including their first website project for Dasar Sistem Informasi Subject), so they can
access and show their work to their friends or parents. I bet you’ll surprise by what they can do in their first pursuing year to be an ITer.
If in their first year they can amaze me, I believe, in the next years ahead, they’ll amaze the world with their IT expertise! Surely! 
