{"id":108,"date":"2014-06-22T10:43:08","date_gmt":"2014-06-22T10:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=108"},"modified":"2020-10-17T15:04:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-17T15:04:33","slug":"about-me-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=108","title":{"rendered":"About Me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am an <strong>educator<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>artist<\/strong>. This site is where I showcase my artwork and write personal observations on topics such as education, parenting, art and life in general.<\/p>\n<p>Presently, I am a <strong>Senior Education Advisor<\/strong> at the Department of Educational Development (EDU) in Singapore Polytechnic (SP). I lead projects on self-directed learning, student feedback, graduate attributes, multidimensional assessment and education research. I provide professional development training and am also assisting in learning analytics and flipped learning projects.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Before transferring to EDU in April 2019, I was <strong>Course Chair<\/strong> for the full-time Diploma in Digital Animation (DDA) at SP&#8217;s School of Digital Media &amp; Infocomm Technology (now renamed Media, Art and Design School) from 2010 to 2017. I oversaw the design of the diploma program, its curriculum, student and staff development, as well as various aspects of publicity and outreach. I had also supervised final year animation projects and taught modules ranging from History of Animation to Figure Drawing, and Visual Storytelling to 3D Character Animation since joining SP in 2001. I still teach a class or two at MAD School to complement my role as education advisor. I enjoy being on the ground and &#8220;in the trenches&#8221; where theory meets practice.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, I teach the 3D Production course in the BFA program at Nanyang Technological University&#8217;s School of Art, Design and Media as <strong>part-time faculty. <\/strong>I have been doing so since 2010, and am grateful to be able to continue contributing my services to my alma mater.<\/p>\n<p>My other significant achievements:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Designed and supervised the creation of the&nbsp;<strong>M.A.D. (Media, Art, Design) Studios<\/strong> &#8211; the signature home-based studio concept &#8211; for SP&#8217;s DDA and Diploma in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics (DVEMG) students in 2012.<\/li>\n<li>Appointed&nbsp;<strong>Student Volunteers Chair<\/strong> at the <strong>SIGGRAPH Asia<\/strong> international computer graphics conferences in 2008 and 2011.<\/li>\n<li>Received the&nbsp;<strong>SP Excellence in Teaching Award<\/strong>&nbsp;in 2004.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In 2015, I successfully completed the <strong>Master of Education<\/strong>&nbsp;program from the&nbsp;University of Adelaide. During the course I was introduced and became fascinated with the concept of &nbsp;<strong>&#8220;<\/strong>neuroplasticity<strong>&#8220;<\/strong>&nbsp;especially in the area of education and how it relates to&nbsp;effective student learning<strong>. <\/strong>I am still intrigued by how and why students learn (or don&#8217;t learn) in our fast-paced information-overloading distracting world, and what we can do to enhance the process.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to that, I had also obtained a <strong>Master of Arts in 3D Computer Animation (Distinction)<\/strong> from NCCA Bournemouth University, UK in 2006. A major highlight from my time there was getting my 3D animated short film screened at a new talent showcase at Aardman Studios in Bristol. I got to walk around a section of the iconic building and ogle the Wallace and Gromit props and sets on display. That year spent in the UK was unforgettable.<\/p>\n<p>I am a visual person and love to draw ever since I was a kid. I was that quiet student in the corner sketching instead of talking or causing a nuisance when there was no classwork to be done or the teacher was not around. I count myself lucky to have grown up on a rich diet of comics (mainly Marvel with a healthy serving of DC) and cartoons (e.g. Blocker Corp Machine Blaster, Looney Tunes, Wacky Races, Superfriends, Transformers, Visionaries), as well as a wide range of live-action TV shows (e.g. Electric Company, Ultraman, Captain Scarlet, Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica, MacGyver, Wild Wild West, Remington Steele, V, Murder She Wrote, X-Files).<\/p>\n<p>I still draw inspiration from my past and try to soak in as much as I can of the present, because I believe we never stop learning. I also believe in living life in moderation.<\/p>\n<p>My&nbsp;<strong>LinkedIn<\/strong>&nbsp;profile can be found&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pub\/ahmad-al-mahir-abu-bakar\/3\/265\/58b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to my website. Please feel free to comment on my blog posts and thank you for visiting!<\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am an educator&nbsp;and&nbsp;artist. This site is where I showcase my artwork and write personal observations on topics such as education, parenting, art and life in general. Presently, I am a Senior Education Advisor at the Department of Educational Development (EDU) in Singapore Polytechnic (SP). I lead projects on self-directed learning, student feedback, graduate attributes,&hellip; <\/p>\n<div class=\"readmore-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=108\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-108","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648,"href":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/108\/revisions\/648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/almahir.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}