Review of Courses & Policies

The TRC-Institute of ECE (IECE) faculty were very busy during July and August 2012,
Imagesdoing timely reviews and drafts of course outlines, assignments, updating policies and related documents to transit smoothly into the next session. Some of these documents, such as, the Students’ Handbook and the Academic Skills’ Guide are designed to support students throughout the programme.

From the outset, TRC-IECE has imbibed the plan-do-review sequence. Previous course outlines, assignments and plans are altered in light of past experiences to maximise students’ learning experiences. We take pride in constructing new experiences for our students.

IECE Admissions & Interviews

Admissions for the ECE-Certificate Programme, which began in July 2012, continued throughout August; enquiries via email and telephone continued to come in through September, but sadly we could not accommodate all of them. This year, we revised our interview process as well and students were selected on a more rigorous round of interviews and a written test. Once the selections were made, along with their acceptance letters, students also received the TRC-IECE Students’ Handbook and the Academic Skills’ Guide.

Orientation to TRC-IECE and ECE-CP

The Orientation Session of the ECE-CP took place on Thursday, September 06, 2012.
As expected, the participants were looking forward to the programme with some excitement and some trepidation. The session started off with a welcome, followed by a brief, casual introduction by each student. They were then introduced to the programme and to the course leaders for Term 1.IECE_Orientation_1IECE_Orientation_2

Following the introductions, students were given their ID cards and the academic calendar. We walked them through some logistical routines of the ECE-CP and
introduced them to the environment where they would spend the next ten months. They were then introduced to a vital component of the ECE-CP, the Field Education course; course outlines were shared with both pre and in-service students and they were informed about the requirements of this course, which runs through all three terms. Towards the end of the orientation session, students completed a brief self-reflection written exercise of their learning styles. All course leaders for Term 1 have read through the papers handed in by the students to enable them to better understand each student’s learning style and learning needs.

Students then visited the library in small groups where Shahida, our librarian handed over their course textbooks and library borrowing cards; they were also briefed about library norms. The session ended by addressing some of the queries put forward by the students.

Commencement of ECE-CP

ECE-CP classes began on Monday, September 10, 2012. The courses for Term 1 are Child Development, Promoting Pro-social Behaviour and The Learning Environment, which are held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays respectively. From September to November, students will also attend four classes of the Professional Practices course on four alternate Saturdays. The remaining ten classes of Professional Practices will be held in Term 3 … the ECE CP journey has begun for our 7th cohort.