Mr. Allan Ko

He may be known by his students as the professor who gives out-of-the-box requirements (such as the recent “Call Me Maybe” videos), which need to be accomplished in a certain amount of time. His students would agree when told how his classes could be so different, so unconventional, so demanding. But by the end of the semester only one thing would be heard from them, that is, all of them really learned a lot.

Everyday Idealists Macky, Dominic and Apple were all privileged to have taken a semester under Mr. Allan Ko. His resourcefulness and creativity in coming up with non-traditional teaching methods continues to inspire all his students that education is really not just about reading and memorizing—that there is a lot to discover in learning and growing through experience.

Sir Allan Ko is one of the instructors at the John Gokongwei School of Management under the Leadership and Strategy Department and the Department of Quantitative Methods and Information Technology. He teaches two subjects, one is Operations Management (under QMIT) and the other is Organization Behavior (under L&S).  

Initially, he is a corporate professional, who has worked in multinational firms such as Procter and Gamble and IBM, and also an entrepreneur, through his brainchild restaurant Cusina Royale. His path to teaching in the Ateneo, however, was paved by the referral of two of his good friends, who happen to be teaching in the JGSOM as well—Mr. Wilson Gan and Ms. Bing Paraguas. And through the semesters, he has been known to be one of the well-loved professors of JGSOM students because of his expertise in teaching and his ability to foster a good learning environment and friendship amongst everyone.

When asked about his greatest conviction, Sir Allan explains how he believes that experience is the best way to learn. True to these words, his teaching style is usually in the form of unconventional tasks and creative groupwork. (e.g. Viral video production for his LS classes, and photography homework for OpMan). Of course, he insists that it’s still very much important not to do away with textbook concepts, but at the end of the day, you have to couple it with real-life cases for it to be fully appreciated and understood.

“Experience is the best teacher so what I try to do when I teach, is encapsulate experiences I’ve had in my career or my business endeavors into what I impart with my students.” Sir Allan explains. The highlight of his LS class is the famous “grilling session” which aims to give an evaluation and critique of the events and outcomes of the week’s task. True enough, this openness to learning with each other and sharing it with everyone really is one of the secrets why even after (and even during the semester), Sir Allan is able to foster good relationships with his students in and out of class.

When asked what keeps him going, Sir Allan clearly said that it’s really his students that allow him to be inspired as a teacher everyday. While the tasks and requirements he has assigned might have made his students experience a roller coaster semester, it’s really in seeing how they learned and changed, not just in terms of amount of knowledge obtained, but also in the work discpline honed.

“It’s definitely seeing young students thrive, learn and flourish, especially after the sem when we’ve become informal friends and I see them taking on their careers, taking on leadership positions or just being themselves and learning more what they like and what they don’t like to do, and thanking me and thanking their experience in class. That keeps me going, that definitely is something I think money can not buy.” –Sir Allan Ko

If you’re a SOM student who’s about to take LS100 or POM102 in the coming semesters, we suggest that you try to give it a shot with Sir Allan Ko. You definitely won’t regret it. J