Speaker No. 1

The first speaker spoke about the issue of being innovative in the modern context. While he agrees that it is increasingly difficult to create new ground breaking inventions like the first aircraft, he still believes there are still rooms for improvement in even the simplest of things. Being a strong advocate of innovation, he further explained that the driving force of today’s advancement in technology has helped improve the standard of living of the people. As such, in order to inculcate innovativeness in NUS engineering students, the faculty has adjusted its curriculum to evolve around the idea of design centric program.

Certainly, having a design centric program will assist student to become more innovative by expanding their mental horizon. A design centric program encourages student to think of alternative solutions to a problem by taking multiple view points on a single subject. For instance, energy can not only be harvest through hydroelectric dams or windmills but can be generated from solar panels. This illustrates the idea that innovation can help to steer students’ mindset away from the conventional way of doing things to unchartered zones.

However, to say that having a design centric program would surely groom all students to be innovative is exaggerated. In fact it takes more than just education to be creative. It involves a total change of mindset. This is because it requires an individual to challenge the existing norm and make a stand that the product is an improvement to the existing technology. This is by no means an easy feat, as there would be many detractors who would demoralise simply by saying it would not work. Hence it requires a strong will and great confidence in oneself in order to for a product to be new and creative.

As we can see, the idea of being creative not just lies with education. Key aspects like a change in mindset are also required in order to truly stand out from the crowd. Although NUS engineering faculty has offered opportunities for students to be different, the choice of becoming one ultimately depends on the students themselves.

Some Helpful Information

Alright, it seems that I have to speak in proper English from now on.

Welcome to Ideas Transaction Station. This blog serves as our group's community blog, and we will most probably be posting the bulk of our insights within this domain. As you would have already noticed, both authoring and administration privileges have been granted to all of us. In other words, all of us are 'ad-libidum' to change the settings, comment, as well as post on this blog with our own Google Accounts.

Evidently, we will have to comment on each other's blogs frequently within the next few weeks. I know it's tiring to open each and every one's blog manually from time to time to see whether there is a new post to comment on. As a tip, we could add each other's blog address into the 'Reading List' located at the 'Dashboard'. It provides automatic updates on everybody's (including other groups if necessary) posting status, and it would be much easier to see who has a new post on their blog ready for commenting.

Otherwise, do feel free to make changes as and when deemed necessary. I'll link this blog to our tutor's when all of us are connected and ready. In the meantime, enjoy and have a happy weekend.

=)