Thank you, Dr Muhd Kamil Ibrahim

I met him in a conference in Glasgow in 2010 when I was a PhD student at Durham University. He came to the conference to accompany his wife who presented a paper based on her Masters research. One of the vivid memories of him during the conference was he was carrying their sleeping daughter on a way back to their hotel. Our eyes met for a while and he smiled with his tired eyes. Coming all the way from Malaysia was not easy especially with a small child. At that time, I already knew him. He already published his famous book “Travelog Haji: Mengubah sempadan iman” and I have read his book which I borrowed from a friend. Reading his book consoles me, as I was unable to perform hajj in 2010, despite having received a letter from Tabung Haji.

I met him the second time when he came to UTM in 2019 to deliver a talk. I remember him saying that when writing a book, it is challenging if we do not give it a try. When some attendees remarked on how time-consuming writing could be, he replied, “Think about how others might benefit from what we write.” His words resonated deeply, reminding us that writing is not just about self-expression but also about contributing to the lives of others. It was a perspective that transformed how I viewed the purpose of writing, not simply fulfilling KPIs.

After the talk, I bought one of his books and asked him to autograph it for a student of mine who was unwell and had wished to meet him. When I mentioned that the autograph was for someone else, he looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes and asked, “Don’t you want my autograph too?” I smiled and told him that meeting him in person was a far greater privilege and honor than having his signature while giving another book for him to sign. His books are deeply inspiring and humbling, serving as powerful tools for his dakwah (spiritual outreach). That encounter left me pondering: What is my tool for dakwah?

He is a special person. A unique individual blessed by Allah with the ability to write and touch the hearts of others through his works. Some of my friends who know him and his family personally, particularly Kak Roza (his wife), have posted on Facebook that they have inspired and made a difference in the lives of so many people in a variety of ways. Getting the news about the passing of a unique person like him is not easy to fathom.

Last Friday, I came across a post from his wife, requesting anyone who read it to recite Surah Ar-Ra’d. Her words conveyed the gravity of his condition. I prayed fervently that Allah would bless him with the honor of passing away on the best of days—Friday. Yet, Allah’s plans are always better. He passed away on Tuesday 14 January 2025. Al fatihah.

Perutusan Tahun 2025 (Dato’ Seri Diraja Dr. Zambry bin Abdul Kadir – Menteri Pendidikan KPT): Bahagian 1

Tarikh: Khamis, 9 Januari 2025

Masa: 9 pagi hingga 1 petang

Imbasan Tahun 2024

  • 5 fokus utama tahun 2024
  1. Penyediaan bakat terbaik negara
  2. Pengukuhan ekosistem
  3. Program pemindahan dan perkongsian ilmu
  4. Pengantarabangsaan pendidikan tinggi
  5. Pemantauan ekosistem pemboleh daya

Rentetan dari fokus utama tahun 2024, pada tahun 2025 terdapat 7 fokus utama. Fokus utama tahun 2024 masih lagi diteruskan dan fokus utama 2025 adalah kesinambungan dari fokus terdahulu.

  • 7 fokus utama Tahun 2025
  1. Penyediaan bakat terbaik negara (fokus yang sama dengan fokus tahun 2024)
  2. Kewibawaan akademik dan warga kampus
  3. Pemindahan dan perkongsian ilmu (fokus yang sama dengan fokus tahun 2024)
  4. Pengantarabangsaan pendidikan tinggi (fokus yang sama dengan fokus tahun 2024)
  5. Governan dan kepimpinan
  6. Kemampanan kewangan IPT
  7. Infrastruktur, digital dan kesejahteraan kampus

Pencapaian tahun 2024

Terdapat beberapa pencapaian tahun 2024 berdasarkan 5 fokus utama tahun 2024. Antara pencapaian tersebut ialah

  1. International Young Future Leaders Summit 2024 (iFUTURE 2025) yang disertai oleh 954 pelajar tempatan dan 368 pelajar antarabangsa dari 47 buah negara.
  2. Program kepimpinan KARISMA 2024 yang melibatkan 3227 peserta dari kalangan mahasiswa dan pensyarah muda bagi membangunkan bakat kepimpinan.
  3. Program pembelajaran berasaskan kerja (WBL) [Nota: WBL adalah salah satu strategi pengajaran andragogi, bukan pedagogi]. Terdapat 34 program telah dilaksanakan di 25 Politeknik dan Kolej Komuniti dengan sokongan lebih dari 400 buah syarikat dan industri.
  4. Penubuhan Centre of Technology (CoT) di institusi pengajian tinggi di Malaysia. Sehingga kini terdapat 12 CoT di seluruh negara dan salah satu CoT yang mempunyai makmal kalibrasi bioperubatan yang pertama di Asia Tenggara yang diperakui mengikut MS ISO/IEC 17025 adalah di Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Shah Alam, Selangor.
  5. Kerjasama strategik KPT dengan industri dan agensi sebanyak 7 MoU (Lembaga Pembangunan Pelaburan Malaysia – MIDA, Inari Technology, Micron Memory Malaysia, Stellantis Gurun, CelcomDigi, Huawei Malaysia, MRANTI) dan 1 LoU (NVIDIA).
  6. Program pembelajaran sepanjang hayat (PSH) yang ditujukan kepada semua lapisan masyarakat dengan konsep “Anyone, anywhere, anytime”. Sebanyak 12, 338 program PSH telah dilaksanakan dengan melibatkan 259, 788 penyertaan.
  7. Festival Idea Putrajaya (FOI) 2024 dengan penyertaan lebih dari 100,000 orang (Melibatkan 27 kementerian dan agensi, delegasi dari 86 negara dan 250 pempamer R&D, 18 wacana). Selain daripada itu, Karnival Kerjaya MADANI telah berjaya menarik 5,000 pengunjung dengan lebih dari 500 peserta berjaya memperoleh pekerjaan.
  8. Forum Ilmuwan Malaysia MADANI (FIM) 2024 telah diadakah pada bulan November di beberapa tempat. Pada 23 November 2024 di Kompleks Seri Perdana, Putrajaya satu Forum Ilmuan Malaysia yang merupakan siri ketiga yang dianjurkan oleh Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi (KPT) dengan kerjasama Kementerian Luar Negeri (KLN). Tema yang dibincangkan ialah “Hala Tuju dan Strategi Kepengerusian ASEAN-Malaysia 2025”. Pada 25 November 2024, Forum Ilmuan Malaysia yang bertema “Peralihan Tenaga untuk Kesejahteraan Masa Depan Negara” di Hotel Grand Hyatt, Kuala Lumpur bersama YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim telah dilaksanakan dengan Kerangka Ekonomi Madani yang melibatkan agensi GLC – TNB, PETRONAS dan KLN.
  9. Pemerkasaan program pengantarabangsaan yang melibatkan MoU bersama Australia, China, Mesir, Korea Selatan, Russia, Maldives, negara-negara Asia Tengah dan lain-lain. Terdapat lawatan ke luar negara dan lawatan wakil luar negara ke Malaysia bagi tujuan pemerkasaan program pengantarabangsaan.
  10. Penubuhan kampus luar Pesisir UKM dilakukan secara konsortium bersama universiti luar negara dengan permulaan di Qatar dan Indonesia.
  11. Pindaan AUKU 2024 Seksyen 15A dengan memberi kebenaran kepada Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar (MPP) untuk memungut dana dan menerima sumbangan dan juga Seksyen 48 (11) yang membolehkan MPP menyelenggara akaun kewangan sendiri.
  12. Sokongan kewangan untuk pendidikan yang melibatkan 29,770 pelajar, akademik, dan staf menerima tajaan melalui 20 program bernilai RM202 juta. Selain daripada itu, pengecualian yuran telah diberikan kepada 4,729 pelajar B40 dengan peruntukan RM11.08 juta.
  13. Penubuhan Industry on Campus (IoC) di POLYCC yang melibatkan kerjasama dengan 19, 970 industri. Sebanyak 72 IoC telah ditubuhkan di IPT di Malaysia. Selain penubuhan IoC, terdapat 692 aktiviti kolaborasi telah dilaksanakan dengan melibatkan 631 industri dengan nilai kerjasama sebanyak RM12.69 juta.
  14. Penubuhan Fakulti Kecerdasan Buatan pertama di UTM di mana seramai 801 orang pelajar kohort pertama telah mendaftar program berkaitan pada Oktober 2024 yang dilaksanakan secara konsortium oleh tiga buah universiti: UTM, UM dan UTeM.
  15. Program In Person with Dr Zam telah dilaksanakan sepanjang tahun yang berbentuk interaksi secara bersemuka secara terus dengan mahasiswa di 5 buah IPT (UKM, UiTM, UMT, UUM dan UNIMAS) dan program ini akan diteruskan pelaksanaan pada tahun 2025 di IPT lain.

Quiet quitting

There are times when I feel overwhelmed with things around me and I admit that I have difficulty to reorganise those things according to priorities. What I normally do is, I will categorise things accordingly based on urgency and importance. But I will remind myself those urgency and importance should be related to what is really matters to my identity as a Muslim and how it will impact my relationship with Allah. This is challenging. Every time.

This is already October, another two months before we reach the end of 2024. What have I done so far this year?

Off lately, I find myself just do a minimum without caring going extra miles to do something. This is especially relating to things which are instructed by others which I have to do. I have been wondering what is the cause of this even though I can guess. I remind myself that I should not rely on my guess without concrete reasons to avoid su’u zahn (opposite of husn zahn). While listening to a radio this morning (17 October 2024), the radio DJs talked about “quiet quitting”. It is a term to refer to a phenomenon at a workplace where its employees just do bare minimum required in their job, without the motivation of doing more than what is required. It does not mean the employees are demotivated to do their job well, it is just they do what is required. Nothing more, nothing less. The thoughts of “why should I do more?”, “why should I care to go extra miles to contribute?”, “if other people do not care, why should I care?” would always linger as a subconscious reminder which leads this phenomenon to thrive.

No doubt we have to adapt to changes that happen around us. Yet, to balance between the needs and wants are not easy. We need to do our job well and protect our mental health and personal time. Quiet quitting is when we do all that without formally resigning. In this case, it serves as a coping mechanism of finding balance in life and perhaps can be seen as a personal assertion between work and personal life.

I do not know what else to write here. To end this post, I asked ChatGPT to compose a poem based on what I have written above. Enjoy!

The world surrounds, a sea of demands,
Urgency whispers, yet slips through my hands.
I stand overwhelmed, priorities unclear,
Yet deep in my heart, I know why I’m here.

I sift through the noise, sort urgent from small,
What truly matters, what matters at all?
I pause and reflect, what will this mean
In the light of my faith, the unseen, the serene?

With each task, each step, I seek to align
What echoes forever with the Divine.
But still, there’s a weight I can’t deny—
This pull to do less, the question, “Why?”

Why should I strive when others stand still?
Why climb the extra mile, climb the hill?
Perhaps I’ve quiet quit, in more ways than one,
Just doing enough, until the day’s done.

Yet balance is fragile, this life, a test,
To protect my soul while giving my best.
I find myself torn, between needs and care,
Seeking peace in the midst of this quiet affair.

As the year wanes, I ask with a sigh,
What have I done? How? Why did I try?
In moments of silence, I find what I seek—
A reminder of strength, though I may feel weak.

Quiet quitting, perhaps, is more than it seems,
A way to balance, to cradle my dreams.
But still, I must strive, for in my heart I know,
The true path is where both faith and effort grow.

E content 2023 and 2024

Well, beginning 2023, the ELPPT teaching assessment includes e content (5% – depending on what you provide), thus it is important to submit ANYTHING that we have developed and used in our class in previous semesters. So, for this year, don’t miss a chance to submit our e content starting 5 September (Friday) until 15 October 2024. Yup, even though we might get the marks for our ELPPT at the end of the year, but for e content, the evaluation starts early and ends BEFORE December 2024.

Here are some FAQs that I got from my colleagues, so I will spare you the time to ask me similar questions by reading this post. (Tongue in cheek remarks ONLY).

How many materials that I submitted last year (2023)?

I submitted 4 materials (4 categories: gamification, video based learning, collaboration tools, and communication tools). Since I did not have any micro-credential materials, I have to diversify my materials. But since I like to try out new things in my class, so, I have to use more than one platform and thus, my materials are varied. So, what are the comments that I got last year?

What comments that I received last year?

Disclaimer: I know this might be considered confidential but for the sake of learning from my experience, I will give the “friendly” version instead (Don’t get me wrong. The remarks can be interpreted according to how we wish to perceive it, so it can be perceived either positively or negatively).

Here are the comments:

  • Teaching slide (R1)
  • Teaching instruction video (R2)
  • Text quiz (R1)
  • Non-interactive, using more than one external and internal link media (My own note: Can you guess the rank?)

One of my colleagues and I taught a same course (pair teaching). So we did a little experiment last year. For the teaching slide, I got R1, and she got R2. THE EXACTLY SAME TEACHING MATERIAL that we submitted but we got different marks. This is a good example of lack of reliability assessment. I believe that both of us were evaluated by different evaluators and thus, the different marks.

It might be considered as teaching slide because it appears to be like normal PowerPoint slide. But using Quizziz, I added some questions in between the slides. For example, the first question that I pose is on the 7th slide. So, for the evaluator who just look at the first 6 slides, he/she will only see explanation about a topic. But the evaluator of my colleagues might go through the next slide (7th slide) and thus, he/she might encounter the first question that I pose. For Quizziz, whenever there is a question, students have to answer the question before moving on to the next slide. In this case, there is an element of INTERACTIVITY between student and the material but, my colleague got R2 (Receptive-closed) and I got R1 (Receptive-basic). Isn’t it confusing that a same material of the same category is evaluated differently? I can’t help but laugh out loud. What can I do about it? Of course, Dr Nihra will always suggest me “Tolonglah semak markah ELPPT bahagian e content” but please take his advice seriously, unlike me.

Want another example of a confusing case? I submitted a material as collaboration tools in 2022, I got I2 (Interactive-closed) but a similar material from the same platform (for a different course) that I submitted in 2023 as collaboration tools in 2023 was evaluated as R3. Even though the materials are for different courses, but the types of materials and platforms are similar (there are class notes, online quiz etc.). Isn’t it confusing because what is the difference between R3 (Receptive-open) and I2 (Interactive-closed)? To tell you the truth, I was confused as well. But unlike 2022, all of the materials that I submitted were approved and thus, they were evaluated (and thus, got some marks). For 2022, there was a material that I submitted which was not approved but a similar material which I submitted in 2023 was approved. Both materials were developed using the same platform (Genial.ly).

Do I subscribe to the platforms where I develop/create my T&L materials?

Except Youtube, I subscribe several platforms such as Prezi, Quizziz, and Genial.ly. I still use the free version of Wakelet with limited features (when I started to use it a few years ago, it was free with cool features. But now, I have to subscribe to enjoy the cool features). To be honest, “upgraded” features and subscription plans seem to change on a continuous basis. It is a lucrative business. Indeed.

What an honor….

It’s been a long since I’ve posted anything here. I was preoccupied, and an unexpected family tragedy in June left me feeling numb. Writing a blog is therapeutic for me.

One of my colleagues informed me that a highly respected academician whom I admire (aka Prof Dr Abdul Karim Alias) had asked her to send me a message. Me? Does this individual know me? Really? I was in disbelief until today. A tiny anchovy like me would never imagine of being recognised by someone like him.

Additionally, my colleague said to me “I got this message from him. I will send it to your WhatsApp”

Please share my blog with her:
https://profkarim.medium.com/

Note: I am such a stalker. So, I already “stalk” Prof Karim from his blog (other than Facebook).