The concept of frivoducation. Transforming experiences and life stories, into education.

1. FRIVODUCATION
Unexpected Source of Education

3. The day I almost died

4. The day I almost
Died? My near miss?

5. Remember your first
time riding a bicycle?
Makeshift “wet kitchen”
Platform, an extension
of a poor wooden squatter
house

6. Not my bicycle, Not my house, Not my kampung
Rookie’s mistake: I was too busy looking down at pedals, enjoying
way too much and got careless.
What I remember!
a) Fear - I fled the scene of the incident!
b) Hid in a room.
c) Luckily, my dad settled everything with the house owner (Never thanked
him – another regret! Hey I was 9)
c) Make shift home – really poor people really exist.
Experience = Sensation + Emotion + Thoughts

7. People are still poor today 2019!
(Imagine 1978 – water, toilet!)
1) Sabah
2) Sarawak
3) Johor!

8. Initially I did not like this person, but then I saw…

9. My first time real Nasi kandar
experience in Penang?

10. My very first time travelling abroad, alone

11. Culture shocks!

12. I love netflix because ………………….

13. Silly me!
Everyone has experiences. To most, experiences are significant
source of learning. The challenge is to articulate these into
stories. The challenge Is to find courage to share our stories…

14. There is something you don’t
Know about me…

15. Pick up lines – do’s and don’ts
(we can do forums, interview…)

16. One day in the life of a nasi kandar restaurant
general worker
(or a rubber tapper, a masseur,…)
Their hope and dreams…

17. Skills

18. My first time…(riding bicycle/
Making ketupat/travel abroad alone)
Something happened
Nothing unusual
(perfect!)
Disaster? Unpredictable event?
Your life is boring & safe
Lessons learnt:
(a)…………………………
(b)…………………………etc
Frivo-
theme
Never mind, join us
Experience=Sensation+Emotion+Thoughts

19. What do you like most about
Bean Rowan

20. Frivoducation: Concept
“Using Bean to deliver Rowan”
Frivolity
lack of seriousness;
light-heartedness;
fun; joking; silliness;
foolishness;
Experience;
Stories,
skills
Essential skills that help students
to navigate through life
Translate experience into
knowledge
Happier and enjoyable
learning/life
The Approach Life skills and
meaning…?
Education

21. Nasi kandar
experience
Netflix
Skills
Ghost
Imagination
Travel
School/
University experience
Holistic
Entrepreneurial
Balanced
Articulative
Thinking
Examples of Frivo themes Frivo objectives
Nightmares
As a de-stressor & social glue:
Happiness, Care, Love and
Respect, Awakening
In each session, try to put
HEBAT In mind
Childhood

22. Frivoducation – the “spice” of
Overall learning experience
University
Education
(Content)
The utilitiesDegree certificate
H.E.B.A.T
(the box)
the significance

23. General objectives of Frivoducation:
(a) As a platform for students to de-stress from daily learning activities thus assisting
students to lead a happier and enjoyable life by providing a pressure-relief, entertaining,
and mind-blowing learning experiences in USM.
(b) To generally support USM agendas on HEBAT and local knowledge.
(c) As USM “spice”.
Specific objectives of Frivoducation :
(a) To deliver simple, but essential skills that help students to navigate through life, e.g pick-
up lines, telling jokes, telling stories or other human skills that enhance their intercultural
competencies and social ethics. Your experiences and skills maybe frivolous to you, but
they could be a useful knowledge for others.
(b) To serve as a platform where students can translate their experience/knowledge into
practical life situations that enable them to be street-smart.
(c) To serve as a platform where students can share their own point of
view/skills/knowledge/experience/wisdom/emotion.

24. Frivoducation will be non-academic in approach, and thus shall be free from the typical academic
structure, assessment and governance.
The following course of action is recommended:
(a) Frivoducation can commence in semester 1 (18/19). The session of frivoducation maybe
called e.g.“Frivo-Break” or any other names related to frivo (up to school).
(b) Frivo-Break can be organized at school level in strategic locations within or outside
the school. A coordinator shall be appointed for each school or PTJ.
(c) Frivoducation is also held at central level by using e.g. Purple Republic facilities, or any open
areas within the University. This is MegaFrivo.
(d) It can be held once a week, with themes to be decided by the coordinator after discussion with
the dean. Themes of the meeting should be in line with the objectives of frivoducation. It
Should be open to undergraduates, postgraduates or even staffs/registered public.
(e) Thus in each week, there will be more than 10 sessions of Frivo-break throughout the
University. The information of frivo-break from each school shall be made available in the
Frivoducation website (to be created) and FB page (to be created). Students are free to join in
any frivo-break sessions from any school, with the themes of their liking.
(f) As of today, committee members are planning for promotional activities in the forms of
posters and banners. PPTI has started organizing Frivo-Breaks with several themes and these
have been going on for 4 weeks (see posters and picture gallery).

25. TI Frivo Break 1: theme personal experience

26. TI Frivo Break 2: theme cognitive skills

27. TI Frivo Break 3: theme relaxxxxx

28. TI Frivo Break 4: theme movies

29. TI Frivo 2009 (1): Vietnamologies

30. Picture gallery (TI)

31. School level - What do we need?
1-2 Frivo-coordinators
per school.
Frivoducation@USM FB page
Weekly coordination and promotion
Weekly theme decision/
Monthly – up to you
Public registration
Monthly monitoring meeting
(University level) – if needed
Website/FB admin

32. Central MegaFrivo -What do we need?
~ 5 members team
Frivoducation@USM FB page
Monthly promotion
Theme decision
and strategies
Public registration
Monitoring and
continual improvement
Website/FB admin

33. Schools, date
and time
details
Frivo-theme/title Commercial description Frivo-
locations
Contact
details
School A.
Friday, 3-5 p.m.
Coming to USM, in 1989 (or
any other years)
Share your experience when you first made that step out of
your home to travel to USM. Were you Happy? Shocked?
Wanna go home?
Room 123,
School A
Coordinator
School A
School B –
Friday 3-5 p.m.
Rock history –guitar heroes Come and learn about famous rock guitarists in the world, and
get entertained by a local band guitarist
Room X, School
B
Coordinator
School B
School C -
Thursday 5-6
p.m.
I love X because…
X could be pasembur, BMW
or anything out there!
Share your thoughts of what/who/where you love and why
you do!
Room fg, School
C
Coordinator
School C
Central
MegaFrivo
(week 4, 8, 12)
No offer - - -
School E –
Friday 4-5 p.m.
Imagination:
Imagine, what if …
Don’t day dream alone. Share it . Room M,
School E
Coordinator
School E
School F –
Thursday 5-6
p.m.
The history of my favourite
and unforgettable English
word
When we were young, learning a second language can be
daunting to some, confusing to others, but sometimes it can
also be hilarious.
Room XYC,
School F
Coordinator
School F
School G –
Friday 3-5 p.m.
Unseen tour in USM Come walk with us as we take you stroll around places like the
Durian Valley, Jannatun, i.e. beyond buildings and lecture
theatres. Or Let’s step our foot on the rooftop of TI where
stingless bees roam …Enjoy the view , have some tea and learn
a little history.
Durian Valley-TI
foyer
Coordinator
School G
Example week 1, sem 1: Weekly events of frivobreaks might look like this:

34. Forum –first week with new baby
Rock history –guitar heroes
HBP
TI
TI student
HBP students
Registered
Publics
e.g of weekly
Frivo-break
Happenings in 2
schools
Students can join any Frivo-themes of their preference. They can experielearn
across schools. There can be several themes per session. Up to you.
We can record the sessions, and post in fb for others to see. It is a promotional
agenda that might help University branding.
We can do fb live because many may want to attend but prefer online
experielearning.
Yes, we can open to public.
Guests:
Gynecologist
Midwife
A lot of baby alive
New mothers
New dads
Guest: A rock
band guitarist

35. One day?

36. Too much
Education,
Boring!
Too much
Frivolities,
Objectives
unmet!
Hopeful target
Frivo-coordinators – to strike the balance.

37. Frivo-corner
Sudut pidato-USM style
(Beyond speaker’s corner).
Unity-In-Diversity

38. 3 heroic models. Who is
the most H.E.B.A.T?
(a) (b) (c)
Final test

39. If you can make me cry, or dance or
Sing to/cook for my wife then the objective of Frivoducation
is achieved for me.
Hard academics

40. If you can inspire me to find ways to help the poor
then the objective of Frivoducation
is achieved for me.
Hard academics

41. Extracting
education from
human experience
Extracting
education from
social interaction
Open-
mindedness
Interracial/
intercultural-
competencies
Social-
ethics
Street-
smart
“Using Bean to
deliver Rowan”
Frivoducation –
the other dimension
of education
H
E
B
A
T
in
mind
As a de-stressor & social glue:
Happiness, Care, Love and Respect, Awakening.
The skill is to seek values from experience.

42. Nurturing attitudinal social
knowledge of the necessity to
sacrifice, to volunteer and to
undergo service-learning.
Awakening and unleashing personal
and social concerns regarding
injustices, poverty, and other forms
of social or individual disadvantages
As they understand realities on the field as different
From textbook, or classroom knowledge…
Higher potentials of frivoducation
1 2

43. Challenges
Articulating story from experiences/skills.
Courage to share experiences/skills.
Convince people to invest their time and to socialize.

44. FRIVODUCATION
I believe everyone has life experiences and specific skills that could be
extracted into a form of “education”. What appears to be frivolous
And mundane to you might be a valuable knowledge to others.