Random rambling – Page 21 – Hadijah binti Jaffri

Finally, it was the last final examination for this semester

I had my last paper today (MPPU1024). There were 77 students taking this course for this semester. For my section (Section 2), there were 24 registered students but there were only 23 took this exam. I had never seen the other one attended my class before. I guess she forgot to withdraw from this course.

While invigilating, I took the chance to grade the UG paper. I have finished marking but have not keyed in the marks yet. One thing at a time. I think I would focus on grading before key in the marks on AIMS and OBE system. I aim to finish doing that before Eid In sha Allah

Let’s do this together

I am a bit slow when it comes to using technology thingy. I admit that. But, I am willing to learn and incorporate whatever the latest technology thingy in my teaching practice. It has been more than few semesters that I used elearning quite extensively. I learn how to get Band 5 (Blended learning). It is all about strategising certain things. It is a matter of getting used to use elearning. I do admit that.

Why the sudden change?

After I ended my LI (Latihan Ikhtisas), I set a new goal for my teaching/class. I want to use new thing per semester. This semester, I have started to use Prezi. I even subscribe it for a year. But, it is not enough, I know.

One of my colleagues encourages me to “be more active” in webometric. Yup. I “left” this webometric thingy more than 3 years and it takes a while to catch up. But, my colleague said “Try to write one post per day, Dijah. You can do it!” She also taught me how to link webpage etc. in my post. But, I am taking a baby step here. Not a major leap. I know my own ability and capability.

She also said that there are other things that I need to catch up now. There are ORCID, ResearchGate, and so many other things. I was dumbfounded for a minute when she showed me how ORCID works. Looking at my reaction, she gave a small laugh and said “Don’t worry. You will get used to it. I know that you can do it. Don’t rush. One thing at a time“.

I felt like crying at that time but I mustered whatever courage that I have as I left her room with new determination. I will try my best to learn and keep myself updated with whatever new thingy. In sha Allah.

Norah, thanks for the encouragement and support. I learn a lot from you. Let’s do this together.

One of the modern malaise? Gadget addiction

As I evaluate the assignments of my UG students, I could not help from thinking about why some of them have difficulty to write articulately. My initial thought was perhaps due to stress and time constraint during the final examination, some might have difficulty to construct sentences properly. Some used points-form writing. It is acceptable but I think it is less proper than full sentences.

What went wrong?

Is it due to gadget addiction? They seem to have shorter attention span and have difficulty to stay focused to construct appropriate sentences. Studies have shown that gadget addiction has detrimental effects on students and their learning. In this case, how are we going to find a balance between using technology and at the same time not losing touch with the reality. Of course, gadget like smartphone and whatsnot is being used as a child-minding tool i.e. to help children to be preoccupied in an “activity” that makes them quiet for certain periods of time. But, how to strike a balance would remain the biggest challenge that any parent has to face regardless of the social status.

Burn out or depression? Which is which?

A recent message about burn out that was shared by a colleague makes me think about my friend. What makes her to be depressed? Is it triggered by burn out that she experience but go unnoticed? Now, she has to take medication twice a day to regulate her state of well-being. She has become medically dependent person. I asked her, “How do you feel if you forget taking the medication once?” She would say the effect would be immediate. She won’t be able to fall asleep (stay awake more than 24 hours) and has difficulty to focus (due to sleep deprivation). She said “I cannot ‘function’ and I will start to imagine things“. That’s serious. Since she was professionally diagnosed as having a depression, she was on medical leave for undisclosed period of time.

But to tell the truth, it is not easy to distinguish between burn out and depression or to differentiate between burn out and stress unless we get someone who are clinically trained to do the diagnosis. No one is immune of depression. There are many cases of people who seem to have everything succumb to the bout of depression. Some even inflict harm towards others or themselves.

So, in this matter, one has to be vigilant and aware about one’s well-being. Also, administrators too play important role to support and be emphatic to those who have started to show some “symptoms”. Sometime, we overlook the physical symptoms that indicate underlying psychological problems that we might have.

Of course, one can easily use depression, burn out and stress as an excuse of being less productive. But, if we look at the person from different angle, does he/she display any symptom that indicate psychological problems that we should be aware of? Is it fair to “punish” this person as being less productive and thus he/she is given low evaluation for the yearly appraisal even though he/she could not perform well due to undiagnosed psychological problems?

It is an paradoxical phenomenon. But perhaps in this rat race world, we need to be more emphatic towards each other, especially towards our own self. Sometimes, we are more concerned about others and thus, we tend to overlook in taking care of ourselves.

Matriculation Centre? Should it be abolished?

My pre-tertiary education was at IIUM matriculation centre. 1996. The centre was in Lembah Pantai. We used the buildings that belong to UM and Institut Bahasa (Language Institute). I had a marvelous time during my matriculation days. I learned about life, adulthood and being more independent there. It was the first time I have to be away from my family (I am a Johorean).

I have friends that I have known since my matric years whom I still keep in touch until now. But unlike now, my matriculation programme took me two years to finish. So, in a way it is like I am taking STPM. No difference.

The issue now, some perceive that ex-matriculation students are less matured etc. I beg to differ. I think it will always bog down to the fact that how adaptable students are to further their studies at university level after they finish one year of matriculation programme. In this case, I do agree with DVCAI of UTM.

What are the impacts of Latihan Ikhtisas?

I have been wondering about it myself. Well, to tell the truth, what I gain from the LI is a new experience of teaching adolescents (and its challenges). Well, that’s it. Networking? Indeed. Networking with the school. Yup. I still conduct tuition class and whatnot as a form of my after-LI-service.

Making impact or difference in the students lives? How on earth would I know that?!!! I am not going to be overambitious on this part. After all, only Allah knows best on this matter.

Other than that? Nothing much. For example, did I get any Industrial grant? Nope. So, it does resonate with the survey findings.

Well, perhaps I can tell what I have gone through instead. Yup. It might take a while since I need to look at evidences that I collected in various forms such as daily journal, students reflective notes and such.

I have posted some personal rambling on various posts. Here are some of them:

Things that I produce when I did Latihan Ikhtisas_Part 1

Things that I produce when I did Latihan Ikhtisas_Part 2

Teaching poetry and literature

Latihan Ikhtisas Part 1

Latihan Ikhtisas Part 2

Latihan Ikhtisas Part 3

Latihan Ikhtisas Part 4

Latihan Ikhtisas Part 5

Since when we become the dumping ground ….

It has been more than a year since I watched Malaysian TV channels (yup, I am not purposely avoid watching any of the channels, it is just that somehow the coverage at my area receives Singapore based channels better than the local ones). I was shocked to watch the news clip about Malaysian is being a dumping ground of non-recyclable waste of developing countries. This is a classic example of “bullying” at global level. It is kind of ironic when the same countries propagate global warming issues, sustainability and such and yet, they “dispose” their garbage at another countries like Malaysia, Philippines, and who-knows-what other countries might be the victims here.

Is it ethical? Is it morally right?

Free meal and Free Market

It is the brain idea of one of my colleagues, and thus, this project was started since Semester 1 2016/17 (on 20 November 2016 to be exact). At first, the project only offered free meal (100 pax) but later on, the project also includes offering stationery that students might need (this is known as Free Market).

Alhamdulillah, even though there is ups and downs of this project since it started but the people who support the cause try their very best to make sure it runs on regular basis. It is not easy to run this project on regular basis especially it needs financial supports and also volunteers to assist us in making sure that it will be run on weekly basis.

For semester 2 2018/19, the last Free Meal and Free Market was conducted on 2 May 2019 (a week before Ramadan). In sha Allah it will be continued on the next semester. I have got some of my colleagues who passed me some stuff (stationery) that they bought. Based on my observation, black pen, foolscap paper, rulers and yellow highlighter are among the most highly-sought after stationery.

What a true academician and scholar….

I always admire this guy since I was young (I think when I started to read about an article that he wrote in the 1990s). To envision myself as an academic like him, it is something that I have in mind. It is not easy to choose this path but I will try my best to stay true to myself In sha Allah. He was one of the co-authors of Rukun Negara (I googled about this). I guess, every time I recite Rukun Negara, it will remind me of him.

When I heard about his passing, I am sad. As I browsed the news to read more about him, I came across his saying “The child is the father of the man. Educate and groom the young person, and he will grow up to be the right kind of adult. If you wait until he becomes an adult, it is too late”

What a true academic until the end!

What does it mean to be a truly educated person?

As I marked the exam papers, I could not help from wondering this thing “What does it mean to be a truly educated person?”. Looking at some of the lackluster inarticulate answers of my PG students, I was wondering what went wrong in my class. Did I emphasis the wrong thing? Did I emphasis exam results than what they should know regardless of whatever grade they might get?

I encourage my students to be reflective. I give them reflective questions. When I found a note about what kinds of questions that self-regulated learners ask themselves, I share the note with my students. In one class, I discussed with them about self-regulation model/theory and using the note, we discussed about how we can use it in different context of our lives. I did my best in this case to guide my students not to be good test takers, but true learners. But again, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink“.

But one thing that I notice is not many of my students are avid readers. Meaning, not many of them like to read. When I asked some of them if they have the textbook that I have recommended, NONE of them have the textbook (this was my UG class). Unfortunately, it happens not only in my UG class, but also in my PG class. The only difference is for my PG class, they realise the importance of having a textbook in the middle of semester, so by week 10 (there are only 14 weeks in one semester), majority have the textbook. Well, better late than never. The UG class? I rest my case. Perhaps they did borrow the textbook from the library and it is just that I don’t know about it (husn zahn in Arabic – or in English it means think positively or in Malay – bersangka baik)