21st-century learning
Week 2: Tales for Tots 3.0
Prof Karim: Let’s use this prompt: Create character image of different styles. I put the prompt in the chat box, so you can copy-paste it in your device. I want you to create 20 images using different styles. That’s your homework for this week.
Everybody including me: (typing in silent)
I ended up with this adorable image of a chubby orange cat sharing an umbrella with a tiny bird on a rainy da, a scene so unexpectedly sweet that it melted my heart on the spot.
But here’s the thing: I don’t even have an orange cat. So as cute as it was, a part of me wished the image looked a little more like one of my five actual cats. After all, if I’m going to create storybook magic, it might as well feature the real stars of my household!
AI tool: Google AI Studio
AI tool: DALLE (ChatGPT)
AI tool: ImageFx
Using ImageFx, I created another image using a different prompt: Crete an inspired Van Gogh image of a black and white British short hair cat building a city of colorful blocks or black and white blocks.
How cute is that, right?
So… where is my homework, you ask?
Well, this is my Homework Version 4.0, freshly updated, slightly polished, and proudly presentable.
There are many versions, but let’s just say it was created before I discovered the importance of having a proper “theme.” It’s a little too raw (and a little too random!) for public viewing, so I think I’ll keep that one safely tucked away for my eyes only.
Week 1: Tales for Tots 3.0
We learned how to create a storybook using Gemini, and for the first time, I truly felt the magic of turning ideas into something visual and alive. With just a few prompts and a little imagination, I managed to create a book.
It’s not perfect and far from it. But as a beginning, it feels incredibly worthwhile. There’s something meaningful about seeing your thoughts take shape, even if they wobble a little at first. It reminded me that creativity isn’t about producing flawless work; it’s about daring to start, learning along the way, and allowing yourself to grow with each attempt.
And for that, I’m grateful.
Tales for Tots 3.0 (ToTs 3.0)
I stumbled upon the advertisement on Facebook and casually checked the facilitator’s name. The moment I saw a name that I am so familiar with, Prof Dr Abdul Karim Alias. Prof Karim! I thought, “Okay, that’s it. I’m joining.” So I “happily” committed myself to four Thursdays in a row, 8:30 PM sharp, from 31 October to 21 November 2025.
Here’s the catch though: I have an afternoon class every Thursday. Even if I end at 6:30 PM, there’s absolutely no guarantee I’ll reach home before 8 PM. In fact, it’s usually the opposite. By the time I pack up, entertain student questions, and crawl through traffic, the universe is already whispering, “Good luck.”
To avoid missing performing my Maghrib prayer, I usually wait at campus until Maghrib before heading back. Which means… I only have a few precious minutes at home to catch my breath, pray Isya’, have a lightning-fast air-fyer dinner, and then zoom into the session like a superhero who’s slightly out of breath but still determined.
It’s chaotic, it’s tiring, but it’s also strangely fulfilling. Maybe that’s how you know something is worth doing, when you’re running on adrenaline, quick bites, and sheer enthusiasm… and you still show up anyway.
Little did I know… there’s homework! Every single week! And it’s due within a week or two! If I had known, maybe I would have thought twice (well, maybe). Technically, there’s no accreditation or certificate or anything formal, so I shouldn’t take it too seriously…
But honestly, I’ve learned so much from Prof Karim. The vibes are great, and the support system is even better. Whenever anyone gets stuck, we just ask in the groupand like magic, someone (or even a few people!) pops up to help, including Prof himself. It’s like a little family of enthusiastic learners cheering each other on.
In short, I signed up for a casual session… and ended up with a whole community and a bunch of weekly homework. But I’m loving it!
Week 1: What is storybook? Why should I? Why not?
Week 2: Let’s your imagination run free! Relieving stress or adding more stress?
Week 3: Let’s get started with book creation ……
Week 4: …..
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Protected: Remembrance Note to a former Mentor
Universal equation of results
I can across this idea “Universal Equation of Results by Brian Tracy.
Brian Tracy’s Universal Equation of Results can be summarised as follows:
Results = (Desire × Belief × Action × Persistence)
This equation reflects the idea that success is not just about wanting something, but also believing in your ability to achieve it, taking consistent action, and persisting through challenges.
Key Components Explained:
- Desire: A clear and strong goal or aspiration.
- Belief: Confidence in your ability and the possibility of success.
- Action: Taking steps toward your goal consistently.
- Persistence: Continuing despite obstacles or failures.
Brian Tracy emphasizes that these elements must work together. If any one of them is zero (e.g., no belief or no action), the result will also be zero. His idea is similar to several motivation theories such as Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation, Locke and Latham’s Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation, and Interest theory.
The emphasize that goal clarity, belief, and effort are essential for achieving results. .
Comparison with Vroom’s expectancy theory
Both models suggest that results or motivation are multiplicative. It suggest if any component is zero, the outcome is zero. For example:
- No belief → no motivation.
- No desire → no action.
- No persistence → no results.
Comparison with Locke and Latham’s Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation
Tracy’s model is more motivational and personal-development oriented, while Goal Theory is more empirical and widely used in organizational psychology and education.
Comparison with Interest Theory of Motivation
The similarities of Brian Tracy’s proposition with Interest Theory in motivation psychology is especially in how personal relevance and engagement drive effort and achievement.
If you look closely on the motivation theories and Brian Tracy’s Universal equation of results, it focuses on tangible, observable and measurable results. Their propositions are built on:
- Observable outcomes: Success, achievement, satisfaction.
- Cognitive-emotive-behavioral links: Thoughts and feelings lead to actions.
- Feedback loops: Tangible results reinforce motivation.
How do these motivational theories and concepts related to us as Muslims?
The motivational theories work well in environments where results are measurable, such as education, business, or personal development and can be manifested behaviorally such as satisfaction (cognitive and emotional, it can manifest behaviorally through gratitude, generosity, or calmness). But In Islam, contentment (qana’ah) and inner peace (sakinah) are signs of spiritual success, even if worldly results are absent and only with Allah’s blessing that we can achieve qana’ah and sakinah.
Islamic motivation includes intangible rewards, unseen accountability, delayed gratification and faith-based belief.
- Intangible rewards: Jannah (Paradise), Allah’s pleasure, barakah (blessing).
Some verses:
In Surah Al-Baqarah (2:25), Allah describes the rewards in a form of Paradise:
“And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that for them are gardens in Paradise, beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are provided with a fruit therefrom, they will say, ‘This is what we were provided with before.’ And they will be given things in resemblance, and they will have therein purified companions, and they will abide therein eternally.” (2. 25)
2. Unseen accountability: Actions are judged by intention (niyyah), sincerity (ikhlas), and obedience.
Some verses related to this aspect:
The Quran mentions in several verses that every individual will be held accountable for their deeds.
“And every soul will be held accountable for what it has done.” (3: 182)
3. Delayed gratification: resisting immediate temptation for a greater long-term reward is deeply embedded in the Quran, especially in verses that emphasize patience (ṣabr), self-restraint (taqwā), and the pursuit of the Hereafter over worldly desires.
Some verses related to this aspect:
The Quran mentions in several verses that perseverance and endurance while remain fearful towards Allah is essential for success.
“O you have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed (or steadfast) and fear Allah that you may be successful” (3: 200)
4. Faith-based belief: Total reliance of our trust in Allah’s wisdom, blessing and justice, even without worldly validation.
Some verses related to this aspect:
“Say, ‘Never will we be struck except by what Allah has decreed for us; He is our protector.’ And upon Allah let the believers rely.” (9: 51)
As human being, it is challenging to hope for intangible rewards and totally in reliance and subservience towards Allah because our senses have to be convinced with the worldly rewards and wonder. However, Allah does not stop us from seeking worldly pleasure as long as we acknowledge, understand and accept what we possess and have are based on His Blessing and it is never ours on a first place.
Keeping myself motivated to complete “dreadful tasks”
This is just my personal reflection. It is not meant to be used as a definitive suggestion or advice. It is far from that. Writing (nonsense rambling? reflection?) is one way that I find therapeutic when things become overwhelming and I need to “pause”, take a breather before continue doing what I need to do.
When I discussed with my friend about certain conundrum that I am having, one of the things that I will try to manage is the way I reframe my mindset. It is not easy to change my mindset but at least to manage it to certain extent is what I can do at any given time. This is what psychologists called as “break the dread“. This is when instead of thinking “I hate this,” try to reframe it into “This is challenging, but I’ll feel great/ relief once it’s done.” Reframing also involves focusing on the purpose. In this case, I would remind myself why the task matters. Is it part of a bigger goal? Will it relieve stress once done? Is it worth doing?
Another thing that I (religiously do) is to break the tasks down into manageable chunk or divide the task into small, manageable steps. I will use a checklist to track progress and personally, it gives me a sense of accomplishment with each tick. If ad hoc matters arise while I am working on a task, regardless of how urgent or important they may seem to others, I set them aside unless I personally perceive them as both urgent and important, in which case I add them to the checklist.
I also try to condition myself on using Time-Based Techniques such as Pomodoro Technique: Work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. I use stop watch for this matter but setting a timer and to commit is not easy. Indeed. Often, starting is the hardest part. But I have to force myself to set a timer for the tasks that I do. For example, in writing this blog, I set a timer of 30 minutes without distraction. With distraction (e.g. answering a call etc.) I gave myself an additional 15 to 20 minutes to complete one post.
Another thing that I will do is to tell others about my goal or task. This is to inform them so that I can minimise the distractions (aka a gentle reminder to remind them that “Buzz off for a while. Don’t disturb me. I am on something at the moment“) and also to create a sense of accountability which can boost my motivation. I know it would be better to have some to work alongside me to “create” a sense of shared effort but I do not want to impose anyone on my “personal journey”.
Finally, there is nothing wrong to reward myself after completing each task. Normally, I will set mini goals and big goals. For big goals, the reward is also bigger (uhuk uhuk expensive). What is the most expensive reward that I ever gave to myself? Well, there are many. The most common rewards that I give to myself are quite simple: a cup of tea, a short walk, or watching a favorite show on Netflix aka documentaries.
How Moral Disengagement explain Bullying?
Why does bullying difficult to be stopped/ controlled? With the current issues going on about bullying (refer to Almarhumah Zara Qairina and others), one could not help from thinking, why does bullying persist?
There are many psychological theories can explain why bullying happens. But at this moment, I will focus on one theory aka Moral disengagement theory by Albert Bandura to explain why individuals engage in bullying behavior without feeling guilt or shame. According to Bandura’s theory, people use psychological mechanisms to disconnect their actions from their moral standards, allowing them to justify or minimize the harm they cause. Here’s how each of the eight mechanisms can apply to bullying:
1. Moral Justification
Bullies may believe their actions “serve” a purpose, such as enforcing social norms or teaching someone a lesson.
Example: “They deserved it for being weird” or “I was just helping them toughen up” or “I have been in the same situation and I turn out alright. So, by doing this, I help them to be resilient” or “Saya pun pernah kena juga macam ni dulu. Bila saya buat dia macam ni, saya membantu dia sebenarnya supaya menjadi lebih tabah”
2. Euphemistic Labeling
Using softer language to describe harmful behavior makes it seem less serious.
Example: Calling bullying “just teasing” or “messing around.” or “Biasa la budak-budak bergurau je tu“.
3. Advantageous Comparison
Comparing their behavior to worse actions to make it seem acceptable.
Example: “At least I didn’t hit them” or “Others do way worse.” “Dia buat lagi teruk dari aku”
4. Displacement of Responsibility
Blaming authority figures or peer pressure for their actions.
Example: “The group made me do it” or “The teacher didn’t stop it, so it must be okay.” or “Aku bukan nak sangat pukul dia. Orang lain yang suruh aku”
5. Diffusion of Responsibility
Spreading the blame across a group to reduce personal accountability.
Example: “We all laughed at them and it wasn’t just me.” or “I am just doing what others are doing”
6. Disregard or Distortion of Consequences
Minimizing the impact of their actions on the victim.
Example: “They’re just being dramatic” or “It didn’t really hurt them.” or “I just hit him/her once. It is not that painful as compared to falling down on your own” or “Ala benda kecik je pun nak dibesarkan”
7. Dehumanization
Seeing the victim as less worthy of empathy or respect.
Example: Using derogatory names or labels that strip away the victim’s humanity. “Gendut, kau kena terima memang kau gendut. Aku bukan panggil kau gendut kalau kau tak gendut“
8. Attribution of Blame
Blaming the victim for the bullying.
Example: “They brought it on themselves” or “If they weren’t so annoying, I wouldn’t have done it.” or “She likes to show off. She is the one who starts this”
Moral Disengagement
A lunch date with my niece (a lecturer) and nephew (A level student) gave us opportunity to chit chat about life as academicians and university life. Inadvertently, our chat took a different turn when my niece told us about a recent cheating incident that happened last week. Her student. Her course. My mind keeps on thinking this phenomenon “Cheating during final examination” and about psychology theories to explain why people cheat, lie etc. Well, there are many theories and one of them is by Albert Bandura called moral disengagement theory. To explain about cheating phenomenon, students may justify cheating through mechanisms such as moral justification: “I need to pass for my future. I cheat because this is my final semester so I need to get good grades”, diffusion of responsibility: “I am not the only one who cheat. Everyone else is doing it too but they are not caught.” and minimizing consequences: “It is just a small note. It does not help me much to answer all questions.” The trivialization is utilized to temporarily separate students from their moral standards in order to lessen guilt and justify cheating. Trivialization in this context suggests that cheating is not a big concern. “Why should we make such a big fuss? Chill. Relax. No harm was done.”
In his book, Bandura proposed eight mechanisms that people use to disengage from moral convention. So, what is moral disengagement? It means people mentally reframe their behavior so it doesn’t feel wrong when they do something which is clearly violates ethical norms. It is a cognitive process. We have a choice either to follow or disconnect ourselves with moral and ethical standards. Essentially, it is a choice.
