2013 workshop: Creating Digital Music 101: Using GarageBand

This is my "ECA"/ volunteer activity this year.



From the GoLibrary programme blurb:

This programme will focus on the use of Apple's GarageBand, covering the basics of the software and how it can be used to unleash your creativity. If you are a beginner with no formal musical training and have not used any Digital Audio Workstation or software, this session is perfect for you.

You should bring your own MacBook (preferably with version 11 of GarageBand). Participants should be familiar with using Mac OS X and above. Please bring along your own earphones.

At the end of the session, you would have gained knowledge of GarageBand and learned the rudiments of using the software to create a music track of your own composition using built-in instruments and loops.

Limited to 20 participants. The workshop is free but registration is required. Should the programme be fully registered and you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please email your name and contact number to Galvin_Soh@nlb.gov.sg with the programme title as the subject.

This programme is part of the technological arts quarter (Oct - Dec) and is brought to you by "Fill Yourself with the Arts". Look out for exciting programmes during this period on the use of technology in the arts!

About the trainer:
Mr Ivan Chew aka the “Rambling Librarian”, is a self-taught musician, amateur poet and artist, who has published five digital music albums together with his band Starfish Stories, all produced with GarageBand.

Last year's workshop worked out quite well, judging from the feedback forms. That participants were totally serious about learning how to use GarageBand was something I appreciated a lot.

I felt the only hitch was that most did not have their GarageBand loops installed before they came. We'll be informing registered users ahead of time (my colleague, Galvin, would be doing that actually -- he's the unsung hero behind the sessions).

The decision to design the workshop for Mac users only was a practical one. There are several nice Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software out there, for Windows and Macs. Just that Macs already come pre-installed with GarageBand, and quite a few people started buying Macs.

I'm looking forward to conducting the session again. One bonus is that I'll have Chinmay Pendharkar helping me at the workshop. I got to know Chinmay some years back and he's always been generous with his time in helping with Creative Commons Singapore meetups, among a lot of volunteer activities he's involved on top of his day job. I asked Chinmay if he'd like to help share his experience in producing his podcasts for Tech65. Plus, he's a trained Acoustician.

Pictures from last year's session (courtesy of Galvin Soh):




The course outline, the same as last year's, is re-posted here for ease of reference:

SCHEDULE
Hour 1: Getting to know GB; learning the basics.
Hour 2: Composing your own track/ Some ‘audio production’ tips.
Hour 3: Continue + Showcase.

The no-frills outline:

Demo of a track composed in GB - 20mins
Musical concepts - “Bars”, “patterns”, “Even counts”
Layering concept - like photoshop

Pair up - check with a “musical buddy for the day”

Opening a new GB project (file names, tempo)
The GB environment and controls
File menu, add tracks, LCD, Loops, Instruments
Shortcut Keys - Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo, Zoom in/ Out

Preferences panel

Using loops to create music - 20mins
Change tempo
Drag loops into workspace
Copy
Extend loops
Edit - Split/ cut/ copy
Layers

Instruments - 20mins
Experiment with different instruments
Musical Typing
Changing MIDI notes

Individual Track controls
Effects (“i” Edit)

Audio Production tweaks
Compressor
EQ

Export
Share

Post-workshop notes: Creating Digital Music 101: GarageBand

[Sat, 10 Nov 2012]

Nine people turned up (there was a cap of 12; heard it rained heavily so maybe some opted to stay home?)

Nine was a nice number. I sensed the average age was around late 20s to early thirties. Heh, it's nice to know as an 'uncle' in my 40s, I'm teaching the young'uns something.

What the session covered:

• Hour 1: Getting to know GB; learning the basics
• Hour 2: Composing your own track/ Some ‘audio production’ tips
• Hour 3: Continue + Showcase

Demo of a track composed in GB.

Musical concepts - “Bars”, “patterns”, “Even counts”
Layering concept - like photoshop

Pair up - check with a “musical buddy for the day”

Opening a new GB project (file names, tempo)

The GB environment and controls
File menu, add tracks, LCD, Loops, Instruments
Shortcut Keys - Copy, Paste, Undo, Redo, Zoom in/ Out

Preferences panel

Using loops to create music - 20mins
Change tempo
Drag loops into workspace
Copy
Extend loops
Edit - Split/ cut/ copy
Layers

Instruments - 20mins
Experiment with different instruments
Musical Typing
Changing MIDI notes

Individual Track controls

Effects (“i” Edit)

Audio Production tweaks
Compressor
EQ

Export

Share

Before we started, I asked what were they wanted to take away from this session. Most had their Macs for a while but never quite learned how to use GarageBand.

About a third played some form of instruments. Most were piano players (interesting!)

Going round I saw everyone actively building their tracks.

What I tried not to do was overwhelm them by whacking all I knew from the past seven years and seven albums, since I picked up a Mac (woah, seven already?)

I let each participant copy a GarageBand sampler (composed the day earlier) and let them attempt a remix. The sampler (aptly titled TenElevenTwelve) sounds like this:


They didn't seem overwhelmed. Plenty of time to play around. Nice arranges tracks too; these folks have good musical timing.

Three hours was a good duration. Class size of ten was excellent; probably 20 would be fine with an assistant.

One tech problems: The rental MacBook didnt have the latest GarageBand version. Wasnt able to drag and drop loops. Luckily while the software update was in progress, one participant readily volunteered his Mac until the update was completed.

Planned for everything (extra power extensions, making sure we nailed down the screen resolution; a 'live' dry run with my colleagues before this public session) except that one. Must make mental note.

When I was mulling over the session on the train, I asked myself why I liked to share and teach.

On one hand, it means putting myself in the firing line, where participants have a range of expectations. Even of the session is a free one, I don't believe it's an excuse to waste people's time.

On the other, there's something immensely satisfying in seeing people give that nod of understanding, or outwardly thanking for having gained insights.

I wonder if it's an affirmation of my own self worth. Maybe, though I can find other ways to satisfy my ego.

Oh, I ended up conducting this workshop because the Public Library was running a series of Arts related programmes. Mooted the idea of a digital music workshop to a colleague, she liked it, and I volunteered to run it.

Coincidentally it was held on a 10.11.12

Hmm, if nine people turned up, that meant 9.10.11.12.

lol

Post workshop reflections: Using Wikis for communication (Round 2)

Completed the second run of the "Using Wikis for Communications" workshop at the Civil Service College last Friday. As before, my segment was a 1.5 hr segment during the 2-day course organised by CSC.

Learning from my earlier round, this time in addition to revising the handouts (with a more detailed step-by-step guides), I prepared more scenarios for participants' to work on. For instance:

1. Share your favourite recipe (e.g. Ingredients, Preparation)
2. Provide directions to your favourite eating places in Singapore
3. Create a website to publicise your seminar/ talk at Civil Service College. The site should allow participants to RSVP their attendance, and also directions to the venue.
4. Construct an Educational website (please decide on a topic/ theme, e.g. Learning to Play the Guitar). Each page should have links to text and multimedia content. Include a Discussion section.
5. Your boss has asked you to plan a trip to a deserted island, where you have to stay for at least TWO weeks. Create a site to help plan your adventure.

Item 1 and 5 was a result of bouncing off some ideas with Kevin and Julian. They happened to be online and obliged me with a quick discussion on possible hands-on activities for the workshop.

Interestingly, no one took up #5. The most popular activity was the one on sharing one's favourite recipe. I wonder if this would be the same in the next run.

Before that, I wanted to manage the participants' expectations. I drew this on the while board:


My explanation was this:

• 50% of the workshop will be on "How to create a Wiki/ edit pages/ How a Wiki works".
• The other 50% has nothing to do with Wikis, or any social media platform; it's really about planning/ creating what you'd like to communicate to your audience.
• 80% of you would probably never edit/ create a wiki after the workshop.
• Finally, the Bicycle Analogy: Some one may show you how to built a bicycle and how to ride it. But ultimately, only you can decide where you want to go.

p.s. shared this at Facebook, if you can see it.

Post workshop reflections: Using Wikis for communication

Yesterday I conducted a 1.5hr workshop for 17 participants, on "Using Wikis for Communications".

After the session, I told the course coordinator I didn't quite 'nail it down' this time round. I felt the participants weren't as engaged as I would like them to be.

My segment was part of a two-day Introduction to New Media Communications workshop organised by the Civil Service College.

By the end of my 1.5hrs, the aim was for participants to understand the general features of wikis, to be able to create a wiki (we used wikispaces.com), edit pages, manage a wiki (including allowing others to edit; minimising the risk of vandalism).

Overall, I believe the main objectives were met. All participants were able to create a wiki, go through the experience of editing pages, learning how to restore versions. We also had a short discussion on what to consider when deciding if a blog or a wiki was more appropriate.

But I realised that while the basic course objectives were met, what most participants didn't quite grasp was what to do with wikis.

To put in another way: if this was a course on how to build a bicycle, the participants manage to build themselves one. But after that they weren't quite sure where to go with the bicycle.

Creating a wiki was simple (simpler than blogs). The beauty of it was that creating a user account was not mandatory for one to edit a wiki.

But next time round, I'll probably impose a tighter structure for group-work activities, so that participants get a better sense (and do so in a fun and engaged way) of how wikis can be used for work and personal. Examples:

• Create a RSVP list
• Write a collaborative story (could also assign roles, e.g. Editor, contributor, vandal!)
• Create an instructional website (e.g. cooking recipes)
  
• Collaborate on a draft proposal
• A simulation of a site to build a corporate taxonomy
  

Set a time limit for each group to create the wiki, then present as a group.

If you've ever conducted similar workshops, what's your experience?

BTW, if you ever use www.wikispaces.com as part of your demo/ wiki workshop, you can ask participants to play around at SandBox.wikispaces.com without them having to create user accounts.

Post-workshop reflections: "Your Library and New Media: Collaboration through Social Networking"

Yesterday I conducted this 2.5-hour workshop for 16 participants. About 12 were MOE teachers while the rest were in education-related jobs.



Not one of my better sessions, I'm afraid.

On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), I'd give the workshop outcome, and myself, a "2".

Several frustrations:

1. The event organiser did not get in touch with me, until I had to contact them just two working days before the session! This left me with only a weekend to work on the content. And I was clueless on number of participants, profile, background
   
2. I'd planned for a workshop format but was informed it would be a talk (so I modified my approach accordingly). To my horror when I reached the venue, it was a computer-lab and obviously the expectation was for a workshop
3. With myself: I was complacent! I still think the organiser was sloppy but I should've chased them earlier. I was aware of the many unknowns yet I went in cold on the day itself. Didn't plan for contingencies. Over-confident, I think.
   

Here's what we managed to cover (outline was worked out on the spot):

• 2pm: An overview of what Web 2.0 was about
• 2.30pm - 3pm: A hands-on exercise on using Posterous.com
  
• 3pm - 3.30pm: Tea-break
  
• 3.30pm - 4pm: Group discussion on ideas and desired outcomes for what they wanted to achieve for their school library, and ideas for using new media (this part was sloppy, and I take the blame). Also made them input their discussion points on to a Wiki
• 4pm - 4.15pm: Review of the wiki activity. Also demo of how to restore pages and deal with vandalism (a bit sloppy, 'cos I temporarily couldn't find the link to restore the pages)
  
• 4.15pm - 4.30pm: Discussion on application, use of new media for collaboration (ended up with me doing most of the talking; I think most of them didn't feel this part was comprehensive enough)
• 4.30pm - 5pm: Explanation of Creative Commons, its relevance to a school library, how to search for CC content, and how to license one's work using CC (this part was me talking, and I can't tell if I convinced them to see themselves as content producers, and how sharing was part of social collaboration)
  

What I did right
I arrived about one hour earlier. Managed to whack out a outline for hands-on activities, worked out the new approach mentally.

Another thing done right: I didn't complain and got to work instead. When I realised the venue was for a workshop and not a talk, I sorely wanted to. But it wouldn't have helped anyone and would certainly have wasted precious time.

When I sensed the participants had a different expectation, I modified my approach rather than bulldoze through the session (but the outcome was partly successful). During the hands-on exercise at 2.30 - 3pm, when I went around checking on the participants. That was when I sensed and got some feedback that the participants didn't really want hands-on. I asked the group what they'd like to focus on, and modified the subsequent approach.


What could've been done better
Before starting the session, I tried to get participants to share what they expected out of this workshop. But I didn't get everyone to share (they did it in groups) and I didn't write down the points so that I could revisit those points. And also use those points to focus the discussions.

I didn't establish that critical rapport with the group. Upon hindsight, I think I could have given more time for each individual to share their thoughts. I realise teachers liked to express themselves and have their thoughts heard. Getting them to share might also clarify their expectations, their skill level, their organisational context.

Next time I'd schedule when each group could edit the wiki pages. The mistake was to allow all groups to edit the wiki. Net-effect: everyone overrode everyone else's work! Next time, I'd assign a scribe for each group, and also give each group a specific time to edit. And warn them not to override.


The participants
When I shared my woes to two other teacher-friends separately (they weren't in the session), they consoled me to say that teachers were a tough bunch to teach!

But to be fair, the teachers were cordial and they patiently went along the discussions and group activities as instructed. I think if they really wanted to be difficult, they could.

Problem was, I didn't manage to engage them in terms of the depth of discussions and the ideas generated. That was the biggest disappointment for them and for me too.

At one point (around the 4pm to 4.30pm segment) I felt as if I'd lost them when the discussions didn't get into the level of sharing and the ideas and sharing from them weren't forthcoming.


Their expectations
I felt most gave very tentative responses when asked to share what they wanted to get out of the workshop.

I had my share of participants who didn't read the workshop blurb!

I felt most of them weren't that sure what they wanted from the session. They had a general sense of wanting to learn something practical, but generally just came to see what they could get out of it. But when they didn't get the sort of specific ideas and discussions, they were disappointed.


Final thoughts
I'm not sure how they collectively rated the session (don't think the organisers would be sending the collated feedback my way).

I won't say this was a disaster.

There were signs that some participants learned something. For instance, they maintained eye contact throughout, showed non-verbal responses, they actively took notes at certain points.

Also, when we ended the session, I told them the workshop won't have to end there. I gave them my email. Said I'd be happy to share more individualised responses, if they have specific questions after the workshop. Quite a few wrote down the email. That should mean something. :)

Still, I didn't feel that sort of satisfaction I've experienced with some other workshops.

In the final analysis, I can only say as a trainer, I've got ways to go.

I feel a trainer of excellence would always manage to make participants feel the session was worth attending. Regardless of the situation.



At one point while reflecting on this workshop, I wondered if I should decline future training invitations from this particular organiser. Or of such a scope (e.g. teachers, new media). Quite likely they wouldn't want to ask me back, heh.

I didn't even feel like blogging this. A part of me didn't want to share the less-than-positive aspect of the workshops I conduct.

But I posted it anyway. To clarify my thoughts, if nothing else. If faced with the same situation again, I'd know what to do without being overconfident.

Well, if any of the workshop participant manage to find your way to this post, as I mentioned in the closing remarks of the workshop, be as honest as you want to be.

Let me know what could've been done better for you.

Post-workshop reflections: Introduction to Blogging workshop for 10-year olds

Two sessions.

An hour and a half each.

Ten year-olds.

Thirty kids per session.

Total 60 kids.

Phew.



But it was fun. I found myself enthused and inspired at the end of the day.

Nice kids. Not too rowdy (I managed to reason with them most of the time, heh). All were enthusiastic about learning new things (it helped that they signed up for the course themselves, rather than being asked to attend).

The session, on how to create and manage blogs, was designed and conducted for the MOE Language Arts Festival 2008. I'm pleased to say that both sessions went well, even though I've not taught 10 year olds how to blog (last year's session was something else).

Well, I did learn that I SHOULD NOT force the boys to work with the girls, unless they want to. So this year, I left them to choose the people they preferred to work with, or to work on their own.


Session Outline
The session covered basics like creating a blog with Blogger.com, publishing a post, editing and deleting posts, creating hyperlinks, adding photos, changing the blog design and layout, how to delete a blog, how to set their blog as private, and how to manage comments.

During the session, I also wove in examples of how they should not assume that photos on the Internet were for the taking (a common assumption among these children), and to exercise cyber-safety and responsible forms of expression.

And I reminded them to tell their parents of the Google account they've created, and their blog URL.


Problems & Opportunities
I'd tossed and turned in bed last night, 'cos I was playing out all possible scenarios of what might go wrong during the sessions.

For instance, poor Internet connectivity (didn't happen), students not having email addresses and not being able to create blogger accounts (a handful of them), and disruptive participants (none).

My biggest worry was not being able to cope with 30 students. I had one very capable and helpful student helper but normally, for a hands-on workshop, I'd preferred a ratio of Five participants to One trainer.

Fortuitously, in the morning session, five students already had blogger accounts prior to the session and had made tentative posts in blogger.com!

Incidentally, I asked why they chose to attend this introductory workshop. I got mostly shrugs. Some said they wanted to see if there were more specific things to learn (I was successful to some degree, but expectations differed among these students).

Anyway, there I was, wondering how I'd cope with 30 students for a hands-on workshop.

Temporary Lab Assistants!
Then in a moment of inspiration, I asked if those five students could act as my Temporary Assistants for the workshop.

"Temporary" as in, to help out at specific segments in the workshop. The rest of the time they would be participants.

They were to go around helping other students sign up to blogger (or create email accounts before signing up with blogger).

At first, they didn't know how to react (maybe they've never been asked to be lab assistants).

Then they quietly went around helping.

I thought they were bored and was sorry that I had to make them help me. But they were quite happy to help, even if they weren't acting excited. Because at one point, I announced: "This student needs help. Can any of my Temporary Assistant come over here?"

To my surprise, all five of the Temp Assistants ran over (yes, ran in that crowded lab)!

I tell you, I could've hugged everyone of them. :)


Temporary Assistants in the Afternoon
For my afternoon, I sought out Temporary Assistants again. This time I approached it differently.

There were four kids who arrived at the lab about 30 minutes early. I asked if they had blogs with blogger. They didn't.

Then I asked if they could help me as Temporary Assistants. While we waited for the class to arrive, I would show them how to sign up and create a blog. Then when the class began, they would have to help others.

Three of them agreed (the fourth preferred to play an online game). I assigned them to look after individual sections of the class. One of them tended to be shy in helping other students, but she went about rendering help in her own quiet way.

I should've called them my Special Assistants instead.

Thanks, kids.


Mission accomplished
All 60 kids managed to create their own blogs using Blogger.com.

The few who already had blogs also learned new things, like creating hyperlinks and managing the blog.

All indicated, via feedback forms, that the session was useful and interesting. Three of them indicated that they'd expected more though. I spoke to one of them to find out what they expected in terms of "more". Apparently they wanted to learn things like how to add new blog skins, tag boards, music players etc.

I think their peers can teach that part better than I can, heh.

These two comments made my day:

"It's cool! Although I'm in a girls school I learnt how to share knowledge with others by blogging" (from a boy, obviously)

"This is the most fun I have ever had in a computer lab"


More Photos from the Language Arts Festival 2008












[Related: Post-workshop reflections - Excel Fest 2007]

Talk & workshop: "Introduction To New Media Communications" Course

Just finished adding the finishing touches to my slides for a seminar organised by the Civil Service College.

It's a two-day event from 11th to 12th October 2007 (course details here; also posted here):

"Introduction To New Media Communications" Course
The Civil Service College is pleased to launch a 2-day course that adopts an interactive and hands-on approach to explore key issues related to using new media as a communications tool.

Day 1 provides an overview of Singapore’s new media scene, and features industry practitioners and public service agencies that have implemented new media communications initiatives.

Day 2 takes a hands-on approach in helping participants understand the culture of new media through the process of creating content for new media platforms such as blogs, YouTube podcasts, and Wikipedia.

Will be speaking on Day 1 (about NLB's new media initiatives) and conducting a workshop on Day 2 (on podcasting and podcasting).

I'm just one of the six speakers/ trainers. I'll be in the company of knowledgeable and experienced individuals.

• Ms. Jennifer Chan - Director of Corporate Communications at the Ministry of Education and the Press Secretary to the Minister for Education.
• Mr. Michael Drury - Director of the Healthcare Practice in Edelman Singapore and Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Healthcare Practice.
• Mr. Walter Lim - Director of Corporate Communications and Industry Promotion at the National Heritage Board (he's the guy who, with his team, initiated Yesterday.SG; whom I'm honoured to know professionally and personally)
• Mr. David Lee - Manager at MICA's New Media unit.
• Ms. Amanda Goh - head of the Corporate Practice in Singapore (for some reason, I couldn't find their website url...)

Not to mention that I'll be sharing and learning from the 20-plus participants (who come from varied backgrounds and experiences, from various government agencies).

The programme is an intensive one. So I'm glad we have a reasonable number of participants to work with.

The session will be held at the Singapore Management University. Will be my first time there.

Post-workshop reflections: Cybersafety/ Writing workshop for 10-year olds

"The title is 'Smarter Blogging' and I thought I was going to learn to blog. But I was wrong. The name should be stated clearly."

That's what a 10-year old boy wrote on the feedback form, for the workshop my colleagues and I conducted today, titled "Smarter Bloggers’ Workshop: Internet adventures of Little Red Riding Hood, her Grandma and the Wolf".

He wasn't wrong. The workshop title could have left the blogging part out, as we didn't really touch on how to blog.

We named it "Smarter bloggers" as it's about how they can be smart and protect themselves should they choose to go online to start blogs and stuff. That being said, I think we'll have to review the workshop title.

MOE Language Arts Festival 2007
A total of 56 students, all 10-year olds, attended -- 30 kids in the morning session; 26 for the afternoon one. Our workshop was just one of the many language and arts related sessions conducted by various parties for the Language Arts Festival 2007, organised by MOE aimed at Primary Three level students from various schools.



How did I get involved in this?
A MOE staff who'd attended the talk I did for the Civil Service College. At first, the proposal was for me to conduct a 90 minutes blogging workshop for 10-year olds. After further discussion, we agreed it was more feasible and more critical to focus on Cyber-safety.

To make the session more interesting, I thought we'd use the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale to convey Cyber-safety tips. For instance, Red Riding Hood gave away details to the wolf (a stranger) on where she was going, and where her grandma lived... you get the idea.

And to be consistent with the Language and Arts theme, the students would be required to work in groups to write and present their version of a fairy tale that incorporated Cyber-safety concepts.

Although Children Services isn't my forte, I ended up conducting the session since the overall workshop outline was from me, and other Children's Librarians weren't sure how to deliver it. Luckily I had help from two of my librarian colleagues from Children's Services. They helped flesh out the workshop content. One of them volunteered to help assist in the morning session, and I had help from another NLBA colleague to help manage the kids.

Session outline

1. First we told the Red Riding Hood fairy tale (the "traditional" Grimm Brothers version). Where possible, we had the kids tell parts of the story. This was a suggestion from a Children Services colleague, and it worked wonderfully. My colleague also suggested that we check if the kids knew the "traditional version", as nowadays the fairy tales they read might be modern or heavily modified versions.
2. Then we introduced four to five Cyber-safety concepts (e.g. "Don't reveal personal information to strangers online", "Do not meet strangers face-to-face alone").
3. To reinforce the concepts, we told an updated version of Little Red Riding Hood, where she chatted with the Wolf online. Kudos to my colleague, Yasmin M. A., for coming up with the cyber-version. The kids found the story funny and engaging. We ended the story by quoting real-world criminal cases of how some children were victimised by deceitful adults after engaging in online activities.
4. For the next 20 to 30 minutes, we made the kids work in groups. Their assignment was to write a story that included at least two Cybersafety concepts AND at least two cartoon/ fairy tale characters.
5. Finally, each group had to present their story, not exceeding five minutes. They could use powerpoint, or draw on paper.
   

What the kids came up with

• All of them were able to cite cyber-safety concepts in their presentation. I thought that was clearly demonstrated in their presentations.
• Shrek and Spongebob Squarepants seemed to be the more popular characters. The generation gap couldn't have been wider! I identified more with "Snow White" and "Three Little Pigs".
• Then there were the Three Blogging Billy Goats Gruff, who knew karate.
• One group presented a powerpoint on "How Mr Krabs got cheated"
• One had Jerry (from Tom and Jerry) and Donald Duck, who were kidnapped by Wicked Mickey Mouse (see the two pictures that follows)

Overall effectiveness of the workshop
It would have been better if there was more time. Inevitably, there were kids who were clearly not as participative as we'd like them to be. I don't see it as their fault. The manner in which we tried to engage these few just didn't work out.

What was pleasantly surprising to me was how majority of them threw themselves into the task given. All groups managed to present a story.

Even after my Children's Librarian colleague reviewed the workshop outline and said the kids would be able to grasp what was required of them, I still had some doubts. I mean, these were 10-year olds who had to develop an original story, with a time constraint, and work with some people whom they didn't know. I would have considered the workshop a failure if there was one group that didn't manage to produce any story.

What some kids wrote about the workshop

• "Workshop was interesting and I liked it"
• "I will like to a attend more of these courses in future"
• "Give longer time"
• "Let us explore freely and extend the time"
• "Make it more interesting"
• "It can be more more interesting if we can use all the rules of the cyber safety and do not show powerpoint slide show"
• "This workshop teaches me many new things that I would like to share with my family and friends"
• "This workshop is cool"
• "Very interesting"
• "The groupwork was pleasant and I enjoyed the activity very much."
• "This workshop is fun and stimulating. It teaches us online safety"
• "I hope to go to more workshops like this in the future. It is very interesting and I have learnt about cybersafety"

This is the first time I've ever received written evaluations and comments from 10-year olds. In truth, I was more worried about how they'd feel at the end of the course, than if I were doing a course for adults.

Adult participants might give you a low rating, or they might not. I'd get disappointed but that's part of training. But for kids, I'd always remember what I heard Edwin Thumboo mention in his speech one time: "Teachers don't make mistakes; they leave scars".

Whether it's a 30-minute storytelling session, or 90-minute workshop, or 12 months of school -- the librarian, teacher, adult has a heavy responsibility.

I think most 10-year olds tend to tell it like it is. I hope their opinions about the course was honest. Most indicated in the forms that the workshop was useful.

And at least one 10-year old gave his honest opinion about the workshop -- the one who wrote that he expected a workshop on blogging. He actually indicated, for other questions in the form, that the workshop was useful and enjoyable. I remember him as an active participant during the session.

I also noted how he wrote "I was wrong" (about the workshop) rather than blame the trainer for misrepresenting the workshop title. I guess he's at an age where respect for authority is still high on his list. Good for you, kid.

Hey kid (I think his name was Paul), for what it's worth, if you ever come across this post when you're older, I'd like you to know you have my gratitude for your honest comments. I would have loved to conduct a blogging workshop for 10-year olds like yourself. After today's session, I'm pretty sure how we can offer such a workshop.

So who knows? :)

p.s. Thanks to colleagues Raneetha, Yasmin, Hong Li; Zee May the student helper; and all the 56 kids who turned up today.