I am currently working in TTSH (May 2005 - present), under the Centre for Healthcare Innovation CHI - People Development.
Prior to joining TTSH, I was an intern at NTU Center for Education Development (CED) in 2004, where Prof Daniel Tan gave me flexibility to move between his different sections to learn about how his CED unit (back then the leading eLearning tertiary institution) was set up. Little did he suspect that I would replicate a smaller version of what I saw back at TTSH.
Then in 2005, I joined TTSH’s Human Resource Development (HRD). My role was to kick off an elearning initiative in the early days where high speed fibre broadband did not exist. In addition, I was alone in a new healthcare environment that was relatively resistant to change.
I realised that it would be difficult to effect any real change all by myself. I needed help. Fortunately, I found a few forward-thinking nurse educators who agreed to fund my interns while I promised to solve their training-related issues. It was a quick-quid-pro-quo arrangement where I got my first taste of a Win-Win (habit 4!) collaboration.
My polytechnic network of friends also helped by recommending me their best students. I repeated this cycle several times. Each cohort building upon the work of the previous cohort. Over time, I got more interns and eventually converted these intern positions into permanent headcount. The entire process took about 8 years (2014) where we finally reached a steady state of 7. I am particularly proud that I recruited every member of my eLearning team and that they stayed for almost 10 years.
We now have an in-house capability to create graphics, videos, eCourses, microlearning modules, etc. and more importantly the ability to teach others how to do it as well. By empowering the ground to take ownership of their own learning and professional development, we indirectly expanded our in-house capability for digital content creation. Where slowly but surely we are moving towards the holy grail of “Every Learner a Content Creator!”
Fast forward to 2020, the CHI building is up and now leads the way in workforce transformation, healthcare thought leadership, and better healthcare training through new learning androgogies, leading our organization to deliver better care and develop our people into a Future-ready workforce.
After my 10th year in healthcare, I started reflecting on what I really want to do for the rest of my career. And the thought always comes back to wondering how it would be like to work with young minds in a polytechnic setting.
I recall fondly my days at Utah State University where I was working part-time while doing my postgraduate studies. After accumulating some savings in my 2 years at Mindef, I left to pursue a post-grad in Instructional Technology. Starting off with a shoestring budget was hard in a foreign country. However, that was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Running for student president and winning the election, gave me close proximity to the faculty that greatly aided my learning and development. I began to identify opportunities and eventually found a job as a Teaching Assistant which helped off-set my school fees significantly. I am still in contact with some of my seniors (that’s you stephanie!) who helped me out when I was a new graduate student. As I grew more confident, I was able to help other international students. I never understood the concept of “Paying it forward” until then.
With the experience I gleaned, it allowed me to create my own opportunities. I basically hounded Prof Daniel Tan for an internship at NTU. I take pride in creating something out of nothing, i.e. establishing an eLearning and multimedia team (of 6 headcounts) at TTSH.
Certainly, there were some hard knocks along my 15+ years of working life. However, it's through those hard lessons that we learn to get stronger and more adaptable.
Now that I have spent a large part of my adult-working learning all these life-lessons, I wish to impart some of this wisdom to young Singaporean minds so that they too can benefit and become even more successful than they ever imagined.
In a nutshell, I love the polytechnic’s approach of imparting real world skills to prepare students for life as a working adult. I am all in and will continue to look for an institution that believes in the same value system.
Benedict Chia
17 Feb 2020
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