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Rate my professors_Part 1

I know that in the US, they also have similar practice like eppp, but unlike eppp which is internally controlled i.e. by UTM, there are some which are not controlled by any institution.   They have different websites which are independent from any institution such as RateMyProfessor, MyEdu.com and UniYu.  But, I have been wondering the effects of such evaluation on many aspects such as improvement of learning experience for future students.  

I have experienced getting not-so-good comments from students because I am strict and assertive.  For example, there are times when I would no longer accept any draft that students send for feedback/comments after certain deadline.  But some students perceive this as tyrannical.  It is as if I am not giving them ample chance to improve their work.  Well, if they send their draft on week 14, a week before their final exam on week 15, when do you think they will submit the “real” assignment?  Week 16?  It will be too late for me to finalise their marks.   Don’t they get it?  I also work based on deadlines.  It is not that I set the deadline based on my whims and fancies.  

Normally, those students who give bad rating and evaluations are not-so-serious students.  Serious studious students would appreciate having instructors who are willing to guide them within certain time frames because they have discipline and able to regulate their learning process.  Students who don’t belong to this category like easy things or prefer if you don’t give “challenging” assignments. 

What a heck!  They are not kindergartners nor school kids.  They are university students who should be mentally prepared to face the challenges of the world and life in general.  We don’t need softies strawberry cotton candy individuals who cannot withstand any challenge or problems.  We have lots of problems and challenges to face and we need to have endurance to withstand anything that might come in our life.  

So, what should we do with the evaluations that students give?  Well, I found an article which explains in detailed how we should use whatever comments that students give with “wisdom”.  There are also research on this.   That’s I will explain in the next post.

 

 

 

EPPP (Instructor Teaching Evaluation or in Malay – Penilaian Pengajaran Pensyarah)

I don’t really care about eppp.  After all, it could be a mean for disgruntled students to “express” their emotions and thus, they don’t provide honest rating.  But, what a heck!  Once a while, I do get some unique comments.  Some are nasty ones but, let’s skip that one (not worth to be shared publicly).  Others are like these which give me warm fuzzy feelings that make my marking period enjoyable and bearable.  

I don’t agree with one of the comments though which says I am cute.  I am already in my 40s.  Cute might be used for teenage kids, not 40 plus lady like me 😀  But, looking at the feedback several times does make me feel good with the thoughts that somewhere out there, there is a student who thinks that I am cute.  

Rain or shine

It is a few days before Eid.  I haven’t made any Eid preparation yet.  No shopping.  No spring clean.  Nothing.  Well, I did wash the curtains and whatsnot few weeks ago at the self-laundry mart.   I did bake Brownie cookies.  This reminds me of the time when I was in Durham.  

I would still go to school even though it was Eid.  There was no break for me.  I went to school and then went to pray Eid prayer.   

The faculty seems extraordinarily quiet today.  I saw Prof Hamdan on his way to pray Zuhr.  I saw Dr Sarimah’s car on the parking lot and few others cars.  

It is raining quite heavily.  I plan to go back after Zuhr.  I guess, I have to wait for a while.   I am so spoiled in this case.  When I was in Durham, I would go to the school even though it was snowing.  At one time, I even saw a boat was stuck in a middle of the river due to the snow.  I didn’t take any chance to walk on the snow-covered river because I know the ice was thin.  It was not worth the risk to get wet and hypothermia. 

Alhamdulillah, now I don’t have to walk in cold winter days to reach my faculty.  So, a mere drizzle shouldn’t faze me, don’t you think so?  😀

Feedback

When I did my Latihan Ikhtisas, I was entrusted to teach form 1, 4 and 6 (MUET).  For form 4, I have to teach five types of continuous writing.  One of it is descriptive composition.  For descriptive composition, one either has to describe a person, an event or a place.  There is no specific plot like narrative composition, yet it requires the writer to write detailed descriptions of a theme (either a person, an event or a place).

I don’t know how to give comments to students so I learn from one of my former students who happens to be an examiner for SPM paper (essay paper).  So, she told me that I need to give examples of sentences or paragraph and give some words of encouragement.  So, I tried it out.  But, it was a tedious process because I have to give different feedback to different students. 

Alhamdulillah, I am so used to give lengthy feedback for my UG and PG students, so I don’t have much problem in that.  It is just that unlike UG or PG students, I need to explain to the form 4 students what does the feedback mean because some of them don’t understand certain words that I used due to poor vocabulary.  But it is a learning process, so it is important to introduce them certain words so they could get familiar with the words and they can see how the words are used in sentences as I wrote it in my feedback.  For this particular student, he doesn’t know the word ‘appropriate’.  So, I explained to him what the word ‘appropriate’ means and how to use it.  

Example of the feedback as in the picture:

Hafid, 

You need to improve on your vocabulary and grammar.  The way you wrote this composition, it is as if you think in Malay and translate it into English.  This style of writing is not appropriate.  You need to practice to think in English when writing in English.  

You add colors to my life

I could be perceived as someone who is uptight and serious.  I do admit that I don’t know how to have “fun”.  But things change when I went to Durham and I met a bunch of people who are fun, playful and yet they are committed in their work (they are also academically excellent).  I don’t know how they can strike a balance to have fun and at the same time stay focused in their study.  But, I learn a great deal from them.  

One of those individuals are Yasmin Ahmad Rusli, fondly known as Min.  Min is an exceptional lady.  When she pursued her masters degree in Durham, she had a long distance relationship with her husband, Samir.  But, from her story and all, I learn to know about Samir even though I never met him before.  I met Samir once when he came to Durham in summer 2008 (Min and Samir went to Paris after that for a short holiday).

The picture was taken when we went to York for a shopping spree.  We bought quite a lot of things.  It is not that we intently wanted to splurge like that but for me, I bought some of cookery thingy (that I still have and use until now) and clothes (which I could no longer wear because the clothes are no longer fit.  I have gained weight since then). 

When I look at this picture, Min and I looked so happy.  Indeed.  Min is one of my best confidantes when I was in Durham.  We shared some ups and downs especially when we had a problem with our housemate of no 12 Steavenson Street.  But things changed for the better afterwards when I moved to no 60 Steavenson Street, Bowburn.  Thing happens for a reason.  Alhamdulillah Allah Gives me a friend like Min to share my woes and happiness. 

Indeed it is true that “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked“- Bernard Meltzer-

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!

At the point of writing this post, I am preparing my OBE report.  Alhamdulillah.  One course is finished.  Another two more to go.   In sha Allah I will try to finish everything before Eid.  

When I look at the students performance (i.e. marks), I could not help from wondering, do they study smart before the exam because apparently, some of them are not able to get good marks.  I know that I cannot assume their understanding based on the marks alone but it seems that some of them are not brave enough to challenge themselves to do better.  Perhaps I am wrong in this matter.  I have been wondering if it has something to do with reading (how much they read to make themselves understand certain concepts).

Language of depression

A friend of mine posted this on her FB.  An article about depression.  More often than not, people who are depressed show many signs such as the way they use certain words (i.e. language).  They speak “the language of depression”.  To untrained eyes, such things can go unnoticed.  

The two aspects that worth to be noted are content and style.  Content consists of emotion expressions, use of pronoun, rumination and social state (i.e. in the case of depression, social isolation).  Style relates to how one express oneself.  It relates to the former aspect, content.  For example, the use of absolutist words (e.g. never, always, nothing, absolutely etc.) might indicate how a person views certain situation.  A sentence like “There is nothing that I do matters” indicates how a person is using self-handicapping note in the language with reference to oneself (i.e. the use of the word “I”).  

So, please be aware of our own language or others to detect any sign of depression.  Indeed.  Mind your (and our) language, please!

Concept maps_Part 1

One of the juniors asked me if giving students a concept map assignment is appropriate to measure cognitive skills (the code C6 – creating level).  I asked him back what makes him think otherwise because to produce a concept map is not easy.  It is not simply cut-copy-paste thingy (unless one copies other’s concept map).  To produce one as your own, you need to have a good understanding about a concept and how it relates to other sub-concepts.  It is not easy to produce a good and meaningful concept-map.  I guess, this junior rarely uses concept maps to be articulated and reflective.  Apparently from his question, it does resonate with that parts that he seems to be lacking of.  

While doing my PhD, I did many concept maps like this.  But, I find it difficult to draw a concept map in a white A4 paper.  So, I changed the medium.  I wrote on brown paper napkins that I could find inside any toilet in my school and it is FOC.  It did help me to stay focused on what I want to write and organise my thoughts.  In fact, a concept map is one of the ways that self-regulated learners will use to be reflective in a pictorial form.  There are research about this.   

So, when I crafted the assignments that I want to assign to my students taking SPPP1012 Educational Psychology, I want to them to be reflective.  Being reflective demands a person to have a certain routine and habit.  In this case, to produce a concept map for every topic learned also means helping students to develop a routine which I hope will turn into a habit.  2 in 1 thingy.  Students will learn how to produce concept maps and hopefully they could teach it to others.  Secondly, students might also develop good habits to summarise their thoughts in different forms i.e. pictorial format.  

What a heck!  As a teacher later on, the students will have to teach their secondary students how to illustrate points using I-think note (I-think note is a form of concept map).  How can they teach the students if they never had any experience to draw concept map before?   As an instructor, I ask the students to submit the concept map on regular basis because I would have a look at their concept maps and give my feedback so that their concept maps would be useful and more meaningful.  This is an example that I “show” real example to my students so that when they become teachers, they would make it as part of their habits to give feedback to students.  

For more information about I-think, check it out on KPM website.