it doesnt matter if it adds or subtracts from PMR because that's not the point. the point is, at the very end of the day, everybody goes through the same SPM. i dont wanna have to repeat myself about the whole no-more-exam-oriented agenda.

if u believe there is loophole on conducting PBS, i'm sure u and i know fairly well than /k/ is NOT the place to report it to, unless u urself have ur own agenda.

Irrespective of whether it is the SPM or PMR or PBS there is surely some kind of foul play when it comes to school based exams. Remember, we are all humans. This is what I am trying to say. PBS or not, the teachers would only be too glad if the students have something to submit to them irrespective of how they get it done. I am sure you know what the present generation is like. And if the PBS results would not be taken into consideration at all for the SPM, then why waste time and effort on it? Better spend the time teaching the students meaningful lessons than chasing after them to do the tests all the time! Well, let's see if the PBS works. Maybe I can come out with something better with my PhD thesis in the near future!

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 9 2012, 11:51 PM

when u do start on ur thesis, do start off with everything constructivism, then look into OBE as well. chances are u wont end up that far from what the government is already imposing right now.

Maybe the teachers would need some advice from you. You see, this year is coming to an end but the teachers still have a lot to catch up with the PBS tests. This is because much of the time is spent on chasing after the students to do the old tests and it is not easy to start a new topic since every new topic is burdened with the old tests which the students did not not complete. Many teachers (even my ketua bidang bahasa) have resorted to the idea of asking the students to take the tests home to do (the tests can no longer be regarded as tests anymore in this case) but many of them ended up losing the testpapers. When the teachers asked the students to come back during these PMR holidays to complete the tests, only a handful of them turned up. I may be honest enough to key in only the results of the tests which the students have completed but other teachers are not so honest. Giving the students a license even though they can't ride a mortorcycle is probably the only way out. Is this fair for my students?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 12 2012, 12:29 AM

i'm sorry, are u saying that u SHOULD allow ur students to break the rules?

is it fair that others earn money by stealing other people's handbags? stick to ur principles and do the right thing.

It's no use arguing about the PBS. Time is the best witness. In actual fact, the PBS can be a very interesting area of research. That was why I volunteered to take 3 classes of Form One. I'll focus my attention on the PBS just like what I've done for the PPSMI. Today, I have a very detailed report of the PPSMI based on genuine research which I have followed for one decade. I will get it published in the journals in the future. In actual fact, I have written many research articles for the journals which are in various stages of development waiting for the right time to be published. As an educationist, I do not criticize without reasons. The reason why I choose to stay in the school till now is because I want first hand information for my research. I don't want to sit in an air con room and suggest something just because America is doing it. One must know what is actually happening in the schools before giving any suggestions for change. This is Malaysia and our 1Malaysia nation has our own identity. We don't have to follow others. Even if the suggestions for improvement in my research articles are not accepted by our government, maybe other countries may find them useful -who knows?

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 14 2012, 11:41 PM

The PBS will be fine if:
1) we have less than 20 students in a class
2) there are always 100% attendance
3) all the students do their work and there is no need to chase after them

This post has been edited by mountainphoenix: Oct 16 2012, 10:29 PM

It is already the end of the year. We are having big problems now. Because of the streaming, we don't have enough English teachers to teach the form one and form two classes next year as each teacher can only take four classes instead of five. Further, the more influential teachers in many schools are now pushing the PBS classes to the less influential teachers who have no right to say anything but to accept whatever is given to them by force. Even the ketua bidang and ketua panitia in many schools are trying to avoid the PBS classes and push them to the non English optionists. It seems like a war is going to begin in many schools. And during these last few days before the school holidays, every teacher is busy forcing the students to copy something just for the sake of completing the PBS tests and passing them. Is this what we mean by quality education? I think this is the real feedback that the Ministry needs!

This post has been edited by pivoine: Oct 29 2012, 11:48 PM

I don't understand why the teachers teaching form 3, 4 and 5 English have only 20 periods (4 classes) of English whilst those teaching form 1 and 2 are given 5 classes of English (25 periods). According to Edelweiss56, all the teachers at her school want to teach the upper forms because if they teach form 3 they can start shaking legs in July and if they teach form 5 they can start shaking legs in September. But if you teach form 1 and 2, you cannot finish your work until after the holidays have begun because of the PBS. To be fair, the form 1 and 2 teachers should also be given only 20 periods (4 classes of English) each. My ketua bidang took one PBS class this year but it seems that she is the slowest one amongst all the English teachers in the afternoon session. She doesn't want to teach PBS again next year and is forcing a non English optionist to teach the English PBS classes next year. It seems that the English teachers in the morning session prefer to teach PJK and moral in the morning instead of the form 1 and 2 English classes because they fear the PBS!

This post has been edited by mountainphoenix: Oct 31 2012, 11:43 PM

this is why we should have just stick with tadika,dont need sekolah

I tried to key in the PBS results online last night and after trying the whole night I managed to key in the results of only four students. Today I tried again and after trying for two hours, I only managed to key in the results of six students. I wonder if the teachers in America are facing the same problems.

After the trauma I have gone through, I have learnt how to key in the PBS results now. Since I have two computers side by side on my table, I'll focus on typing my PhD thesis whilst at the same time trying to log into the PBS system online. It's not easy to log in and sometimes it may take up to 10 attempts to log in and after keying in the results for a few students the system would log me out automatically and I have to spend another half an hour or perhaps one hour or more to log in again. So if I were to wait to get logged in I may end up doing nothing the whole day. If I write my thesis whilst waiting to key in the results, at least I have written something and my time is not wasted since keying in the PBS results is almost an impossible task.

For those of you who are not doing your PhD, maybe you can start baking a cake whilst trying to key in the PBS results. By the time your cake is ready to be eaten, you may have keyed in the results of about 4-6 students if you were lucky. If luck is not on your side, you may not even get the chance to log in after you have eaten your cake! But at least you have a cake to eat instead of getting nothing at all sitting in front of the computer just waiting to key in the PBS results.

This post has been edited by pivoine: Nov 9 2012, 01:56 PM

What you're describing is not a problem with PBS itself. It's computer problem

1) badly designed UI on the website

2) system adminstrator asleep and not ensuring the system is running properly

Get your principal to complain. It should not be "we don't want to use PBS anymore because it's so difficult to key in". That will get you nowhere.

Instead, try "please get the people running the website to fix it. It's so hard to key in data. I was on it for hours ... {paste what you said above here}".

i think what the guy above me meant that its not PBS's fault.its malaysia website's problem.bad UI like he meant.yeah they suck.i dont know who designed the website.

Have you read my entire article and all the comments that followed? If you did, you will know what the PBS's real problems are. Keying in the results is but a very minor part of the PBS!

This post has been edited by pivoine: Nov 12 2012, 12:20 AM

Yes. When I said "this", I was referring to your immediately preceeding post, where you described the keying part of the problem.

I did not mean to imply that the PBS has no other problem. Frankly, that is not something I am even remotely qualified to comment on. But when it comes to UI, web design, and system administration, most definitely I'm qualified. You can't get me to shut up.

I received an sms from my former colleague at SMK B this morning and she told me that despite getting up at 4 a.m. in the morning to key in the PBS results, she still couldn't log into the system. Whenever we complain to the Ministry, the officers-in-charge would tell us to get up at 4 a.m. in the morning to key in the PBS results as most of the teachers would be sleeping then and the system wouldn't be so jam. But it seems that getting up at 4 a.m. in the morning to key in the PBS results also doesn't help. Maybe the teachers in America are used to it already that's why they never complain. Or maybe they are super extra patient!

This post has been edited by mountainphoenix: Nov 17 2012, 12:05 PM

LOL at the key in system right now.

As expected, will never can handle the load.

Urm, we are talking about kids who are old enough to understand what they need to do and that their education is important not toddlers. You should NOT chase them for these things. If they don't care, then sorry, fail them. That's what we do at uni level anyway - at least when I was a lecturer.

As for grading them according to band, there is nothing wrong with that. Weaker students have different needs and the band is to help you identify weaker students and help them accordingly. Yes, it's a lot of work but aren't you supposed to be doing that in the first place?

Well, if their standard reply is to tell everybody to key in at 4am, what did they expect was going to happen at 4am?

Anyway, that's not the solution. The solution is to go shout in the ears of the administrators and system designers to fix it. Telling teachers to wake up at 4am to key in data is just stupid.

The people who made the system should have designed it to be able to handle the expected load. This is just incompetence. It's not like they couldn't count how many teachers would be expected to use the system simultaneously.

It can and should be fixed. Get all your colleagues to all complain and call. Yes, you already know the answer they're going to give you. But that isn't the point. The point of the complaints is to prod them to go kick IT to get off their asses and go fix the problem. ASAP. The number of complaints they receive will figure into how much of a priority they put on this.

I really pity teachers these days. Aside from teaching, they have to handle the administrative works and such.

I admit, this is the first time that I've heard of PBS. The idea is there, however the practicality is still questionable. It looks great on paper, but the outcome---I believe only the teachers have the answer. I am not saying that PBS is bad, I think that this system requires more fine-tuning in order for it to be more "teacher-friendly" in the future