Janarayson

Training students for Nokia around the region

Career5 min read

Since September we've taken a two-day UI/UX course for Nokia to nine schools in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City was the last stop, for now.

Just got back from Ho Chi Minh City, the last of our training trips for now. Since September we’ve been running a UI/UX course for Nokia at universities and polytechnics around the region … nine schools in five countries. I never thought one day I’d be going places to train students, so I’m writing it down before I forget the details.

It started with Limkokwing. Last April, Nokia introduced us to two heads of department there, and we ended up coaching their students.

October

The first run of the two-day course was Limkokwing in Cyberjaya on 30 September and 1 October, then Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore on the 4th and 5th, then ITB in Bandung on the 7th and 8th.

The course is UI/UX design for Nokia phones. There’s the Nokia 3310 and what phones used to do … voice, WAP and SMS. There’s colour, which is a wide topic on its own, with the science, the art and the psychology of it. And there’s group work, where the students sketch their app on paper, with scissors and glue on the table, while we go around the groups.

Students at computer desks in a lab, two trainers talking with a group, one student drawing on paper beside scissors and a glue stick, and a Group work! slide on the screen
Group work at Limkokwing.
A trainer at the front of a large computer lab beside a projected slide, with students spread across the desks
Nanyang Polytechnic, October 2010.
A trainer with a microphone in front of a slide of two phone wireframes, the word Design and the line Create a user experience based around needs, with students on laptops in the foreground
ITB Bandung, October 2010.

January

In December I tried to improve the teaching materials, which turned out to be harder than I thought … if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Then in January we did Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

Singapore was ITE College West in Choa Chu Kang. The campus only started classes last July, and the Prime Minister officially opened it in April, three months after we were there.

Students in uniform working on laptops at green chairs, a trainer standing among the desks, and a Group work! slide on the screen
ITE College West, January.

Universitas Indonesia was a full house, every seat in the lab taken. Right after the photo with our host I had to go to the university’s clinic … high fever, and I was shivering uncontrollably.

A large computer lab with every desk taken by students, a video camera on a stand in the foreground
Full house at Universitas Indonesia.
Two trainers holding yellow gift bags standing either side of a woman from the university, with a buffet in front of them
With our host at Universitas Indonesia.

Bangkok was Chulalongkorn, and the last of the four was Chiang Mai University, where they invited us to an event for their graduating students, a khantoke dinner … traditional Lanna food on low round trays, everyone sitting on mats on the floor.

A trainer pointing at a slide of two Nokia 3310 phones labelled voice, wap and sms, in a computer lab of students in white shirts
The 3310 slide, Chulalongkorn.
A trainer at the front of a classroom beside a slide reading Colour is a wide topic, with panels for science, art and psychology, and students at desks with laptops
Chiang Mai University.
People sitting on red mats around low round wooden trays of food at an outdoor event at dusk
Khantoke with the graduating students.
A khantoke tray with small bowls of curry, soup and vegetables, and parcels wrapped in foil
Lanna food.

MMU

On 11 February, a few weeks after the January trips, Nokia announced Windows Phone as its main smartphone platform, with Symbian kept as a “franchise platform” and MeeGo as an open source project. There were a lot of negative comments, but I saw an opportunity in it, and two days later I was going through Windows Phone 7 tutorials.

MMU in Cyberjaya, on 7 March, was supposed to be the final leg. I wasn’t sure I was prepared for it … I’d lost a bit of momentum after January. I was also hoping to spot some talent there, since we were looking to hire two more people.

A trainer with a microphone beside a slide of sketches, in a computer lab full of students
MMU Cyberjaya, March.

Ho Chi Minh City

Then one more came up at the end of May, at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Bách Khoa, part of Vietnam National University. This one had a coding session as well, in C++, and Ow took that one.

A trainer beside a slide titled Loops - Local var for count, showing a C++ for loop, with students on laptops
The coding session, Ho Chi Minh City.

Next is Nokia Connection in Singapore on the 21st, at Marina Bay Sands, and once again we get to show our work there.