Find the differences

Find the differences from pictures above (Einstein and his brother, he2....)!

Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. A great physician, but loves classical music and plays violin as well. He2... perhaps he was just like me: put the bow above the violin string and plays "meditation from thais" when stuck to something. Perhaps he played the violin just before he found the relativity theory... (ha2... perhaps I will found something after mastering the Toccata and Fugue by Bach)

For some people, listening to a music or playing a music instrument will be a great way to relax yourself and enter the beta situation which leads you to work optimally. There are a lot of music genres, you should find the most suitable one. But, for some people, it will be different from time to time. For example, In the morning I do like to listen to Baroque classical music which gives me spirit and wakes me up. I love to enjoy it while I'm having my breakfast and cup of tea.. (not wine he2..). In the afternoon, I do like to listen to soft blues music, which leads me to have a twenty minutes sleep, he2...
Dream Theatre, Queen or other rock groups will accompany me every evening with their skilfully music, Inspire me to learn anything that I want to learn. Then in the night, pop music with love theme will always sounding in my atmosphere, he2... Usually I get new idea in this period of time (10-12pm), then followed by chatting with my wife or friend till drop, ha2....

===
The picture of Einstein is taken from http://www.larouchepub.com/spanish/lhl_articles/2006/0714_ataque_india.htm

Weird dream

Two days ago, I got stuck on my assignment. I couldn't solve two last questions from fourteen questions provided. Actually it was OK if I just left it since it'll give me less than 20% of overall assignment mark. I got the other 12 totally correct, I do believe it. So I just left it and having a great weekend, some beers and (unfortunately) a cigarette (believe me, it was just social smoking.. I'm not a smoker now,he2...).

Sunday night I still had a chat with my beloved Ling till 2pm (thanks for a communication company which provided her with free of charge GPRS connection, hi2... ssst). Then, I felt a sleep and I started to dream about anything, hi2.... last time, I dream about my project, bwahaha in my dream, I tried hard to solve my project (It's a usual dream if you get stressed with something), but I enjoyed it.. I didn't get stressed because of anything, I tried to enjoy my life here, no time to be busy..... Finally, I just said 'horray' because I can solve my problems. I wake up and directly go to my laptop, connect to campus's server and write what I've done in my dream and compile it.... ha2.... it works, totally correct. Great and weird dream. I wonder I could have this kind of dream for my projects, ha2....

So, here, what're the recipes?
1. Keep relax when you do something, don't let it burdening you
2. Keep focus to all what you want to do (sometimes if we can't solve a problem, it's because we aren't focus to the problem)
3. Reward yourself if you can do something... Just make a time management for a week and if you can reach the target, you should reward yourself... Anything.. (last week I reward myself because I can finish all the projects before my own due by buying an electrical violin (ha2... don't do this, will lead you to bankrupt if you do this all the time....), I plan to go to the beach if I finish this assignment... and it's my time to do it, he2....
4. Make your own due date (should have enough spare time to check it twice or more before submit)
5. Spell my name three times if you have problems, hi2.....


-- My messy heaven taken this morning

Letter from my friend

Ji (Sorry mate, I change it since it will be read by many people, he2...) , it's really nice to hear from you.
your stories and your experiences make me start to dream again....and again...
i really want to go abroad...learning many things there...visiting beautiful places...
then going home with abundant knowledge to share...hmmm. ...sounds nice...
what you have done is an inspiration for me...
making me never stop dreaming...and wake me up to face the life....
good luck mate....
no worries...

life will lead you to places that you've never known...
but love will lead you home....


if you have any information about any scholarship. ....please let us know....
best of luck for you....
take your time....

====

Many thanks mate, I'm trembling to read your letter, he2... I know that you can... If you have any problem, just let me know... Sorry to post your letter here, but I will keep it anonymous, no worries... Let your spirit be a spirit to others. This is my third months I have been here, and I really want to go home (homesick fever) he2.... So many challenge here, specially when I really miss my wife, family, friend, environment, pollution (bwahaha).... Before, I never dreamt to study to Australia, he2... Germany was the best for me, so I learnt "Mine name ist Aji, Ich komme aus Klaten, Ich wohnen in Semarang, ..." he2... Now I realize that Australia is closer to Indonesia and I'm suffering from homesick fever (but it's still 1100$ for the return ticket, he2), How if I live in Germany, ha2.... However, I found many interesting things here, many friends, interesting culture, beautiful landscape, interesting objects, great study methods, many things that you can adopt for a better life, he2....
I learn that faithful friendship, travelling, rapid communication with your family will help you to face this problem, he2... How long will I stand.. I don't know ha2...

I always remember my community (Pak Mul, ex Seminarist community) words "Amo et Facio Quod Volo" which means I love and do what I have chosen

So, stop your dream now, realize it, he2... do your best. About scholarship, ADS program will be closed at September 7, 2007. Just go to http://www.adsjakarta.or.id for more information. I'll help you if you have any problem.

Cheers,

New Book

G'day

Hereby I would like to launch my new book published by Andi Publisher (but not listed yet).

The title is "Server Linux Client Windows".
Here, I and Suyanto EA supervised my two beloved students (Edward Christophorus Moa and Feby Lotan) in doing their experiment about communication between Linux and Windows operating system. This book discuss the combination of the power of Linux server and the easy to use Windows OS. Linux is a reliable and open source operating system, so it would be great if we use it as a server. Here, we share about how to share the data, printer, etc between server and client in a simple way.
This session, Feby Lotan finished his study and he got a high GPA which is second to none in Computer Science Faculty.

Hiduplah Indonesia Raya

Happy Independence Day to my beloved Indonesia

Today is the the 62th of Indonesian independence day. We are invited by the Consulate General of Indonesia in Sydney to have a flag ceremony and gathering at Wisma Indonesia Rose Bay. Hem... great experience to have a flag ceremony here. The most important is we can meet many Indonesian there (Even, Sydney is full of Indonesian, he2...).These are some pictures of this occasion.


UNSW students and the Consulate General (3th from left... no it's me, the General is 4th)




Acehnese Dance



"Poco-poco"




Fanfare




Merdekah....

ADS Scholarship

G'day mates,

Some people asked me how to get the scholarships from AUSAID. I'm an APS holder, but this program is the last period, no more APS program this year. But, no worries... you can try to apply ADS program which is the default program runs each year. You can get the information by visiting http://www.adsjakarta.or.id

Tips

1. Improve your English. Although the requirement is only 500 for TOEFL score or 5.0 for IELTS, it will be worth if you can reach the score as high as you can and improve the ability to speak, listen, read and writing in English.
My tips:
- Watch movies as much as you can... (English language and try without subtitle). This will help you to improve your comprehensive listening. Do it with fun.
- Find a sparing partner for speaking exercise. Expressing an idea in a speaking is not as simple as you think, he2... (In my case, I have my wife who is ADS alumni)
- Read any English books. As many as possible. Trust me, if you like this, you'll feel easy when you do the reading test
- Write as many as possible. (I did it by wrote something in this blog.... You know, even my writing is full of mistakes, I always celebrate my mistake (Michael's words)
- Think in English, start to think, speak to yourself in English. Learning English language is not as simple as translating your language to English. It's different. Hopefully you get dream in English
- Celebrate your mistake (again Michael's words)

2. Answer the questions in application form properly
There are a lot of applicants (perhaps more than 7000 and they will choose only 600 for the next tests), so answering the application form properly is the main gate to the scholarship

tips
- Choose a program that suitable for you but stay close with your educational background. You must think also what will you do after you finish your program... Surely supporting Indonesia's development is important.
- State your aim to get the scholarship clearly and shortly.
- Include any supporting documents, project you've done or you're doing, references, etc. Supply all documents you have. Nothing to lose
- Supply your best photographs (he2.. in my case, no worries)
- Make a good personal statement which describes yourself clearly in a page
- make correspondences with any lecturer from an University in Aussie if it is possible (or the school) - They are welcome to answer any question, specially about research. if it's possible, arrange an outline proposal about research in one page.
- Answering the application form question in English will be worth for you

3. Pray for your best


Hem, This is the first step that you must do if you wanna come to Australia in Ausaid account, he2... Remember, this scholarship is not only for lecturer, ... if you are a teacher, employer, or even a fresh graduate, you have the same opportunity. Try it, nothing to lose

I'll update this thread after I finish my assignment, he2..

Cheers

IT-ers reunion

Saturday, March 02, 2007, there was a reunion of alumni of Informatics Engineering of Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University. Five alumni joined this occasion. They were (from right to left) :

1.Sinung (TF'99), now works in Sclumberger Oil Company as a Drilling project manager
2.Bimo (TF'00), owner of PT. Mahkota Dewa Indonesia
3.Aji (TF'00), Computer Science lecturer of Soegijapranata Catholic University, owner of Nugroho IT Solutions and Australian Partnership Scholarship awarder
4.Deddy (TF'00), works in Berca as a storage system IT specialist
5.Johan (TF'00), Master of Informatics Engineering student at Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University

Hopefully they can bring this country to the better one.

A session about Critical Thinking With Tim Moore

Today we (3Mont-ers) have an opportunity to meet Tim Moore, a representative of some Australian Universities. Tim Moore presented a topic about critical thinking from some different point of views. He interviewed some lecturer in Monash University from three different backgrounds. They gave a definition and comment about critical thinking from their perspective.
I try to understand the aim of critical thinking in each of background. I found the same purpose even it says in different ways. The main purpose of critical thinking is to understand whether something is a rubbish or values for us. Critical thinking is a way to identified something so we can say it needed or not.

There's no exact definition about critical thinking. A lecturer from Monash said "It's an interesting word, isn't it? it can be mean anything".

Again :

"The main purpose of critical thinking is to understand whether something is a rubbish or values for us"

Do a lot of reading!!!!

Critical thinking

As a students, sometimes we must summarize a book, article or anything. After summarizing, we must write our opinion to that article or book and this opinion will be discussed later in the class.
To write a good opinion to an article or book isn't easy. We must try to understand the writing rationally, objectively and maybe subjectively according to the author's aim. We need a critical thinking ability in this term.
There are so many definitions of critical thinking. Complete definitions is :

"Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness"
(A statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul for the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction, http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/definingCT.shtml)

This definition sounds hard to understand, but actually by learn it day by day and implement it in every situation, we will train our critical thinking ability.

So, critical thinking is not only for understand an article, or a book? No, we can use it for any situation. Listening a headline news, watching TV, film, etc. The first thing we must do in critical thinking is focus to what we want to learn. Focus means give a full attention. After that, we can try to make some questions or arguments about what we learn. Questions or arguments not only for what we don't understand, but maybe if disagree or agree with the statement. Of course, we must do it in the rational and objective way when we try to analyze a case.

Sometimes we can try to think in the way of constructive skepticism. Constructive means that the aim what we want to do is give a positive effect to the author. Critic not always give a negative sides. So think rationally and objectively be a key in constructive skepticism.

(This writing based on my discussion in the IALF course)

== Beside critical thinking, there is critical literacy, I'll discuss it as soon as possible ==

Great Discussion About Plagiarism

Today's session is about Plagiarism. Our English lecturer, Michael, gives us a reading material about plagiarism fact in a University. This reading material shocked me because there are a lot of people that do plagiarism and now they become a professor. I shocked because a thesis supervisor whom he's a professor, do a fatal plagiarism when he did his thesis to get master degree.
I realize that culture on aware and avoid plagiarism still hard to follow in Indonesia. But why? Who's wrong if a lot of students in Indonesia just stealling idea or words from other people's works?
Maybe there's no education about plagiarism in formal school?

Plagiarism is about honesty and morality....
I learn much from this day's discussion.

Five Steps of Ignatian Paradigm in Teaching and Learning

As a lecturer, I found a lot of problems in teaching and learning process. Not all of students have high motivation in learning, especially in the class. Only about 30% students can reach the aim of the subject. The other 70% do not have efforts to get the subject's aim. I try to observe why they aren't have interest to the subject. I teach a subject that have lack of theory, and students being bored with that. It's a big problem for me as a teacher.
I found a book from Jesuit community about how they design the teaching and learning method in the class. This method is called Ignatian Pedagogy. There are five important steps in this paradigm:

1.Context of learning.
Fundamental theory and the aim of the subject must be introduced to students in the beginning of the class. Knowing the aim and fundamental theory, students are motivated about the importance this subject to their future. I try to design the simplest fundamental theory so it can be understand by students easily.

2.Experience
After they got the fundamental theory and know the aim of the subject. I design a case study and give them task to observe this case study. I try to design a case study that present in their daily live and easy to understand. As an example in database design subject, I ask the students to analyze the requirement of a local company in order to build an information system for that company. Students choose the company by them self and observe by their own method.

3.Reflection
In this steps, students try to give feedback to their own analysis by discussing it. After that, they must design the system based on their analysis in formal method given at the context of learning step.

4.Action
The students try to implement to code based on the design they made before. In this action, the students have a new problem on how to implement the design into code. They try to solve this problem by learning the programming language that they need by them self. Of course we must help them by giving the resource that they need and supervise them.

5.Evaluation
This is an important step for the students to evaluate their task. The students perform their task in a presentation and the other students and me give feedback to what they have did. Students so happy when they finish their task and evaluated by other students and the lecturer.

By doing something, they learn by them self about the subject. As lecturer, I just want to be a facilitator for them. And by doing something, students will have an experience that will stay longer in their mind compared with only listening in the class or reading a textbook. I'm happy with the result, because more then 50% of students that passed this subject with good mark. I ask students to evaluate this method and almost all of them said that this method is easier to understand. I try to implement this pedagogy in all of my subject such as Computer Organization, Database Programming, Relational Database Management System, Database Administration, Embedded System, etc. Hem, anyone to share with me about teaching and learning method......

Mathematic Logic Competition 2
Computer Science of Soegijapranata Catholic University

MLC 2 is a higly prestigious competition for high school students because there are about 40 students choosed and compete in an online mathematic logic test.

This is the second time Computer Science Faculty of Soegijapranata Catholic Unversity held a highly competitive competition. But why should mathematics logic? Students often scared with mathematic lesson in the class because it's lack of algorithm and a lot of things to be remember. But, actually there are a lot of parts of mathematics that do not need any algorithm knowledge, just use our logic ability. But it's not easy as our imagination, and this is a new chalenge for students who wants to improve their logic ability.

Just check out at http://www.unika.ac.id/lomba