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|Stumbling with words| Recommendation N.09

Updated: Jan 3, 2022


Things I read

  • A Companion to the History of Economic Thought: Since I don't sit in the History of Economic thoughts class at university, I found this book enlightening. The revolution of knowledge is a continuation of past ideas. Economics is no exception. For example, Plato put the foundation on Smith's thoughts on the division of labor.

Well then, how will our state supply these needs? It will need a farmer, a builder, and a weaver, and also, I think, a shoemaker and one or two others to provide for our bodily needs. So that the minimum state would consist of four or five men — Republic (Penguin Classics ed.), p. 103

And then, Bernard Mandeville also developed the ideas of labor division before Smith in Fable of the Bees. The greatness of Smith and his pin factory do not come from thin air. It inherits from the past. So do not forget to read; your following great ideas might come from the next books you read.

100 -1 = 0 Làm 100 việc tốt chỉ cần 1 việc không tốt thì mọi thứ bằng 0

  • Emails from students Last summer, I received some thank you emails from my students. I found it is a beautiful practice to keep in touch with your professor (of course, the email should sound genuine) + put a smile on them (which is never superfluous).

Things I listened to

  • Learning how to learn: This is quite a fascinating talk on how to learn. The main idea is to study persistently in smaller chunks. Most of all, we have to know why we look to put all the effort into it (For Vietnamese review, click HERE). It reminds me of the passage I read in David Perell's Monday Musings newsletter.

Learning is Like a Song

The process of learning is like falling in love with a song. Initially, you’re only attracted to songs that move you emotionally. If they’re catchy, you’ll listen to them enough to get stuck in your head. If the song keeps resonating with you, you’ll learn about the artist and explore the lyrics in depth. Talk to an obsessive and in addition to singing the lyrics for you, they’ll tell you the backstory behind the music.

Learning works the same way.

You can’t invert the process and expect the same intensity of learning. When it comes to music, we intuitively know that nobody wants to read the lyrics of an album before they listen to the music. But that’s exactly what we do whenever we ask students to memorize nitty-gritty details before inspiring them to learn. (David Perell)


  • Another excellent talk on learning I found very intriguing is between Professor Ngô Bảo Châu and Professor Nguyễn Xuân Long. Lessons I learned from the conversation:

  1. Share what you are doing with others; they might have keys to your problems somewhere somehow.

  2. It is essential to: i) to learn independently, ii) to write clearly to summarize what we learn for future reference.

  3. Develop your niche. Your expertise. Your philosophy. Don't be afraid to tackle complex problems (but don't be too hard, lol)

Smart people love to over-complicate things so they can feel like they're working hard. And if they fail, at least they can say to themselves: "I tried something though and it just didn't work." But the world rewards you for outcomes, not effort. When you insist on working hard, even when it's not the most effective strategy, you miss obvious solutions that are right in front of your eyes (David Perell)

4. As young researchers, we don't have to focus too much on the "big picture" to avoid getting lost/distracted.

5. For postdoc time, we have to compete on grants and papers aggressively.


  • The following is also an exciting talk on intellectuals in Economics of Education. I learned that besides learning how to write, I should be able to code. So game on with R.

Song of the post


 
 
 

Facebook or what saved me from MS Teams fatigues

Updated: Jan 3, 2022

I wouldn't say I like online teaching. Like many others, I love to have genuine interactions with my students. Online instructions bring me out of my comfort zone. I can't see my student's faces to know whether they understand. I can't hear their laugh to tell whether my jokes work. The last part of my semester can be described in one word: dull. To save me from MS Teams fatigues, I revisited my past experience and decided to incorporate Facebook in my lectures.


The use of social media in education is not novel. When I worked as a teaching assistant at Indiana University, I was asked to create a Twitter account for a class. The initial goal is to introduce students to news from pharmaceutical industry. The idea flopped. It was refreshing but did not work. No reply, not retweet, no nothing.



I revisited the idea of using social media while attending PEN last year. Ian Kalman, a Fulbright University professor, introduced the use of social media in the workshop. Ian uses social media as a platform to interact with students. In his arguments, our medium shapes our behavior. The same person will behave differently on various platforms. One can be shy offline but "talkative" online.

"Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication." -Marshall McLuhan

As Facebook becomes a learning platform, it encourages shy students to voice up. Another benefit is class content shall be archived and revisited later. He allowed us to experiment in PEN and I could not wait to try in my class.


And then I did. Once. I did not like how the class turned out. Students have to switch from blackboard and phone. The method distracted them from the "now" moment. I can't feel their presence in class. Fast forward to 2021, the delta wave forces me to be back with MS Teams. This time social media becomes my savior. After the dull first online session, instead of asking questions and waiting for answers out of desperation, I posted my question on Facebook. This time it works wonders! Given students are already in the online platform, they remained at their digital presence. Facebook is a more social and more relaxing medium to connect. My students become more engaged. Some started to raising voices in lectures as they get to use to raising opinions. I'm saved. Thank you, Mark Zuckerberg.


P.S: Coldplay just released new single. Why don't you give it a try?


 
 
 

|Stumbling with words| Recommendation N.08

Updated: Jan 3, 2022

Last month was hectic. I pushed myself by attending 3 course, some side projects on top of my already packed schedule. To my surprise, I was not burn out. All thanks to my new routine!


I and some close friends established our 5 am club. We determined to wake up at 5 am everyday so we can have extra time to read and exercise.Anyone fail doing so will contribute 50,000 VND to our mutual fund. At 5 am, I do a Yoga session and then do some readings. After doing this for a month, I feel alive and enlightened. You should try this out. Overall, last month was productive yet I haven't got time to post anything in this site. Here are some readings, podcasts, and movies I learnt/got inspired from the 3 courses.

Reading

First course is Economics of Education. In the course, Nghiem Huynh introduced the use of R. Here are some helpful sources for anyone interested in R.

- R for Data Science : To analyze data using R


Another course you can consider twerking your brain :P

Movie

The second course is Film Critics. In the effort of widening my knowledge domain, I struggle to comprehend the course's readings. However, if you stretch your brain muscle constantly, things can improve. One movie I watched for the class and really want to share is Farewell my concubine. A beautiful movie given the background of Chinese Culture Revolution.


Podcast

The third course is German. It is the hardest since I haven't learn anything new language for awhile (after few failed attempts learning French). I found this podcast quite helpful. Basically, to learn new language, we should read, incorporate with learning techniques (active recall), live in the country, and take your time.


And these lessons also from another episode of Education Bookcast:

  1. Mature adults can learn a foreign language well enough through intensive language study to do things in the language (almost) as well as native speakers.

  2. "Language-learning aptitude" varies among individuals and affects their classroom learning success (but at least some aspects of aptitude can be learned).

  3. There is no "one right way" to teach (or learn) languages, nor is there a single "right" syllabus.

  4. Time on task and the intensity of the learning experience appear crucial.

  5. Learners' existing knowledge about *language* affects their learning.

  6. A learner's prior experience with learning (languages or other skills) also affects classroom learning.

  7. The importance of "automaticity" in building learner skill and confidence in speaking and reading a language is more important than has been recognised by the second language acquisition field since the 1980s.

  8. Learners may not learn a linguistic form until they are "ready", but FSI's experience indicates that teachers and a well-designed course can help learners become ready earlier.

  9. A supportive, collaborative, responsive learning environment, with a rich variety of authentic and teacher-made resources, is very important in fostering effective learning.

  10. Conversation, which on the surface appears to be one of the most basic forms of communication, is actually one of the hardest to master.

  11. If a learner has passed a certain threshold of proficiency in a language, then attrition of their knowledge over time is very low. However, below that threshold, learners tend to forget their language relatively quickly with time.

Other honorable mentions are Have a Sip #40 and 021 station and Freakonomic's How to optimize your apology. They remind me to do good things in life, we all need discipline.

And here is the music for the month!


 
 
 
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