Category: Other
My 1st tuition class this year (2022)
I was involved in the tuition classes as an enrichment program that the school organized since 2018. Back in 2018, I had a little choice to say No as I was a part of the teaching staff. But I was entrusted to teach the low achievers who knew they were labeled as such based on their performance. I had a blast with them even though it was challenging to boost their self-esteem and improve their performance at the same time. I continued to teach tuition classes in 2019 but in 2020 and 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and whatsnot, the tuition classes had to stop for a while.
I was contacted by Ita last Monday (4 July 2022) if I was available to join their enrichment program again this year. I immediately said Yes even though I know that I will be a bit preoccupied with examination thingy and stuff this month. So, I looked up my old notes that I used when I taught English in 2018 and tried to find information about the current SPM format. Well, they have changed the SPM format for English paper (Writing). No more 350 words. Now, the word counts are between 200 to 250 words for continuous writing. Well, I learn something new with the new formatting. There is also a revised rubric to evaluate Part 3: Continuous writing. Having a former student who is also an invigilator cum examiner of the Paper 2 is a blessing. I contacted my former student and asked about the latest things to update myself.
She laughed at me when I said that I was nervous as I was entrusted to teach the high achievers this time around. She said: “I bet you will love it! Teaching such students is a challenge in itself, but rewarding. Just try it” I came a few minutes late as I stopped at Pekan Tiram to photocopy some materials. Cikgu dan kedai fotostat berpisah tiada. Indeed.
The shop owner and I had a small talk and he remarked “Lama dah tak nampak cikgu datang kedai fotostat“. I just smiled but he could see me smiling as I was wearing my face mask. Alhamdulillah I wore the face mask at that time, so I could hide my uneasiness after hearing him saying that.
I had a quick background check with Ita about the students. Knowing that some of them are from B40 families, I predict that they might not have foolscap paper. I brought some papers which I took from old examination booklets. So, I can give it to anyone who does not bring or have any foolscap paper.
There are a couple of students who brought their own foolscap paper but upon seeing that I have the left-over papers from the examination booklet with UTM logo, they requested me to give them too. One of the students tried to sniff the paper. “This is not a perfumed paper.” I told the student while rolling my eyes. With a cheeky smile, he said “Saja nak bau. Mana tau ada bau UTM”. Huh?
UTM does not have that budget to have perfumed examination booklet (tongue in cheek remark!). Our students are not that lucky to have such paper. Nevertheless, the paper from the examination booklet is thicker than the foolscap paper that they have.
While collecting the papers from them, one of the students said to me “Teacher, pelajar di UTM guna kertas ni ke ketika peperiksaan?” Well, with that question, I had to tell them the truth by saying “Well, I took this from the examination booklet. These are the unused pages in the booklet. I shredded the used pages and threw it away. I kept these as foolscap paper” . While nodding her head, she replied back by saying, “Saya suka lah guna kertas ni. Saya rasa bersemangat nak tulis karangan dengan baik” Errmm… should I believe that or what?
Padlet bukan bahan econtent untuk kategori collaboration tools
Saya baru ada sedikit masa terluang untuk menyemak TESDCP tahun lepas (2021). Saya mendapati bahawa hasil perbincangan pelajar saya yang menggunakan nota (Prezi) yang diletakkan dalam Padlet tidak dikira sebagai bahan e-content (tiada markah diberikan). Dalam Padlet tersebut ada soalan berbentuk terbuka yang memerlukan pelajar menjawab secara naratif atau esei pendek.
Kesimpulannya, Padlet tidak lagi diterima sebagai bahan econtent. Ini adalah bercanggah dengan nota yang diberikan oleh Dr Nurbiha.
Ini adalah nota dari sesi taklimat yang diberikan oleh Dr Nurbiha (mungkin nota lama)
Apa yang saya faham ialah Padlet adalah alat seperti Youtube, Powtoon, Trello, Quizziz, Kahoot, Socrative dan sebagainya yang mana ianya digunakan dalam membina bahan pengajaran. Sebagai contoh, Powtoon, Genially, Moovly, Canva dan sebagainya adalah alat yang boleh digunakan untuk membangun, dan membina bahan pengajaran berbentuk video (sila betulkan saya sekiranya ialah ada salah konsep [misconception]).
Bagi Genially, pembina tidak perlu memuat turun video dalam bentuk MP4 dan memuat naik video ke YouTube. Bagi Powtoon, pembina bahan perlu memuat turun video dalam bentuk MP4 dan memuat naik video tersebut ke YouTube. Yang berbeza ialah apabila menggunakan Genially (versi berbayar dan dilanggan), kita diberi pautan URL yang boleh dikongsi dengan pelajar dan sekiranya pengguna awam ingin menggunakan bahan tersebut mereka boleh mendapatkan dan menggunakan bahan tersebut (cuma agak sukar sekiranya pengguna awam kurang biasa dengan Geniallymeskipun pautan tersebut adalah umum (public).
Untuk pelantar yang membolehkan pelajar berbincang dalam talian sama ada secara segerak atau tidak segerak, kita boleh menggunakan pelantar seperti Padlet, Jamboard, Wakelet, Trello dan sebagainya. Ianya lebih bersifat agak terbuka kerana ianya boleh digunakan oleh pelajar untuk menulis jawapan, pandangan atau memberi komen tertentu yang boleh dikongsi dengan rakan yang lain. Bagi keadaan bersemuka, selalunya kita menggunakan kertas mahjung untuk pelajar menulis sesuatu. Pelantar seperti Padlet dan Wakelet mempunyai ruang untuk pelajar memberikan komen terhadap pandangan atau jawapan rakan. Sekiranya ianya hanya dianggap sebagai teknologi dan bukan bahan econtent, saya agak keliru kerana ianya menjadi bahan econtent dengan apa yang ditulis dalam pelantar tersebut.
Ianya seolah sekiranya bahan pengajaran video dimuat naik di YouTube tidak diterima sebagai bahan econtent kerana menggunakan teknologi iaitu YouTube dalam pengajaran. YouTube adalah alat seperti Padlet.
Sesungguhnya saya keliru kerana dalam sesi taklimat yang diberikan oleh Dr Nihra, beliau ada menunjukkan contoh Trello yang digunakan untuk perbincangan pelajar. Beliau ada mengatakan bahawa itu menunjukkan bahan econtent yang memberikan peluang kepada pelajar untuk berinteraksi dengan rakan. Padlet saya mempunyai nota kelas, arahan dan juga ruangan untuk pelajar berinteraksi dengan bahan (nota) dan rakan. Mereka boleh berinteraksi dengan rakan melalui ruangan komen atau mereka boleh membina ruangan komen baru.
Jadi dimanakah silapnya saya sehingga Padlet tidak dikira sebagai bahan econtent? I rest my case. Adakah mungkin kerana saya silap memilih kebenaran untuk paparan sama ada umum atau peribadi? Kena melihat semula aspek ini.
Dimanakah tempat pengisian E-content tahun 2022 yang terkini?
Jangan kalut. Jangan panik.
Langkah-langkah:
- Pastikan anda telah log masuk (log in) di UTMPortal
- Di bawah “Academic” pilih “TESDCP“
- Di paparan utama TESDCP, pilih “T&L Delivery and Resources“
- Di bawah paparan yang ada muka anda yang _____ (isi tempat kosong), terdapat empat (4) pilihan: Blended learning, OBE, NALI & HIEPS, E-content.
- Pilih E content.
- Seterusnya, anda boleh masukkan maklumat yang diperlukan seperti biasa.
IUCEL 2022
We had no grant, no product nor any commercialisation value for this project. Nope. But what we have is something that we want to share with others about our teaching practice. This is our little experiment. So, Dr Doria Abdullah and I brainstormed last year about the things that we want to do for our class. It was a new session (session 202122) so I want to try out something new for my class. Dr Doria has used comics in her class for few semesters. I like the idea and I want to try out for my class but since I only taught one course which I did not pair with others, I could only experiment this idea in this course. It is a bit tedious to discuss and involve others whom I do not have any experience collaborating with.
Dr Doria was my former student and she likes the idea of some of the things that I did when I was teaching her (I have forgotten what I did back then – it was more than 10 years ago). To cut the story short, we had data from our little experiment. It is might be not enough for publication yet as it might need few cycles of data collection to have solid and sufficient data. So, as a start, we share our findings in IUCEL 2022.
Alhamdulillah, we got Silver medal. Well, our intention is not for the medal but we want to share and get feedbacks from others which we can use to improve our teaching. So our project is nothing fancy. It involved just the two of us because the process happened in our classes (Dr Doria used her undergraduate class and I used my postgraduate class). My students were informed about this.
Last year, I submitted my own project which I conducted alone for my class (the data collection took place three semesters). Somebody asked me why I did such project alone. Well, Alhamdulillah Allah Gives me someone to collaborate with. Even though, Dr Doria is a junior but she has lots of ideas that I find interesting to replicate in my own class. I hope our collaboration will not stop here.
IUCEL 2022: Gather Space
I am struggling to get myself familiar with this Gather Space platform. When I got the tentative program, my turn for presentation is on 29 June 2022 (Wednesday) from 2 to 5pm. During the briefing, it is suggested that we wait nearby our poster during the evaluation session. If we want to move out from the session, we can do so but we need to let the evaluators know. However, I do not know how to do it at first but after several attempts, I find that there is a space in which I can type a notification about my status. This is really interesting!
UPM has done a well done job in preparing this year IUCEL using Gather Space platform. I know from Dr Chong about Gather Space and he mentioned about using it for his students. They interact using metaverse mode in Gather Town. For someone like me who takes extra time to learn new things like Gather Town, knowing this platform gives me an idea about what I can do for the MyDigitalEducator module. But it might be a bit too overidealistic on my part as I am still struggling to create a content/collection in Wakelet (LOL to myself). It is a challenge that I set for myself but I will take it in a stride.
What can I conclude from the briefing?
During this briefing, there are so many things to digest though. I feel a bit cognitive overload but I will try out according to my own pace. Chill!
A new look? Nay…
It has been a while since the last post. I am in a middle of preparing whatever is needed for whatever award. It is kind of challenging as I need to find whatever evidence needed. It is time consuming and having back to back meetings almost every day is not helping. I do not do work related stuff after maghrib. I am no longer switch on my laptop after working hours and on weekends. I have been doing that for nearly a month and I am so proud of myself that finally, I stick to a new routine that I have set.
So, when I tried to log in to People.utm.my as usual, I found there is a new feature (not the password when we want to log in – that has been quite a while now). Anyway, I need to get used and explore some of the new features. It might not be much but it does matter as a small change can be troublesome if we are not aware of it.
UTMPortal berwajah baru
Hadis Rasullullah SAW tentang gila kuasa
Aku pernah ternampak satu hadis tentang tanda-tanda akhir zaman dan tentang zaman di mana ramai orang gila akan kuasa, pangkat dan status. Di era sekarang, agak senang mencari maklumat tetapi untuk mencari maklumat yang sahih perlu sedikit usaha untuk membuat analisa.
Alhamdulillah setelah beberapa hari, akhirnya dapat jumpa satu buku yang diterbitkan oleh seorang ahli akademik dari USIM bertajuk 40 hadis tentang politik dan kepimpinan.
Hadis pertama mengenai sifat manusia yang sememangnya suka akan pangkat, kuasa dan status. Boleh rujuk dari Sahih al-Bukhari, no: 7148.
Akan tetapi, Nabi Muhammad SAW ada berpesan supaya mengelakkan diri dari meminta untuk diberikan jawatan. Boleh rujuk dari Sahih al-Bukhari, no: 7146.
Dalam konteks sekarang, adakah menghantar permohonan untuk tujuan kenaikan pangkat atau mengisi borang untuk jawatan pentadbir dikira termasuk dalam larangan Nabi Muhammad SAW? Ini membuat aku berfikir panjang dan banyak kali untuk proses kenaikan pangkat. Ada yang mungkin berfikir, “Ala, apa yang nak disusahkan sangat? Tekan butang je dalam sistem. Apa yang diperlukan adalah berdasarkan penilaian tahunan dan bukti yang dimasukkan setiap tahun yang terkumpul seperti bilangan menjadi penyelidik utama, bilangan penerbitan dan sebagainya”
Pangkat berbeza dari jawatan? Dari satu sudut, ianya adalah berbeza tetapi dari satu sudut lain, ianya merujuk kepada tanggungjawab dan kebergantungjawapan seseorang berdasarkan pangkat, jawatan, status (boleh melabel apa jua istilah). Mungkinkah ini yang akan menjadi penyesalan di akhirat nanti seperti yang dinyatakan dalam hadis Nabi Muhammad SAW?
Mungkin ada yang berpendapat bahawa terdapat nabi yang meminta diberikan jawatan, seperti Nabi Yusuf AS. Persoalannya ialah, layakkah kita hendak membandingkan diri dengan seseorang yang Allah telah menaikkan taraf dirinya sebagai Nabi? Bahasa orang yang biasa didengari: “Kena sedar diri la kan, kita ni siapa“. Akan tetapi ada kelonggaran untuk memastikan kepentingan masyarakat terjaga dengan “mencalonkan” diri untuk jawatan tertentu dengan syarat tertentu yang perlu dipenuhi.
Dalam apa jua keadaan, sekiranya kita diberikan jawatan, perlu dilaksanakan tanggungjawab dengan baik, dan tidak menzalimi orang lain dengan tindakan dan juga keputusan yang diambil. Dalam bentuk tulisan dan percakapan, ianya sesuatu yang mudah untuk dilaksanakan tetapi dalam bentuk perbuatan, ianya bukan mudah. Semoga Allah permudahkan urusan orang yang diberi jawatan untuk melaksanakan tugasan dengan adil dan saksama.
COVID-19: Zoom Wedding Reception
COVID-19 changes everything. A normal occasion like a wedding has changed to physical (with restricted SOP) and virtual. When one of my friends got married in November 2021, I knew that I might miss the chance to attend her wedding physically. I had a mixed feeling (happy, sad, glad, excited and all) when I saw their faces. Glad that we can finally meet although virtually but it is not the same meeting them physically. The last time I met all of them in Brunei was in early 2017 (Zatul’s wedding). It is nearly five years ago. Now, Zatul is blessed with two children (a boy and a girl).
The last time I met some of them (Arni, Amalina and Kam) was at Lutfi’s wedding in 2018. It was nearly three years ago. How time flies! Zeah and Nurul went to Japan at that time so, I did not meet them at Lutfi’s wedding.
Congrats to Nurul and hubby! In sha Allah we will meet in the near future. Perhaps we should all go to Durham with our special ones this time around.
