What is wrong with this picture?

It was one of the days that I have packed schedule starting from 815am. Is it normal? It is normal but what makes it challenging is having to attend more than one event at the same time. Some people can do it well. I am not one of those people.

I had a meeting about a course and we needed to decide on the rubric etc. While attending that meeting, I also attended the Majlis Apresiasi FSSK. Using two devices, it seemed things could go smoothly. But there is only one “me” with one brain that needs to process overloading information at once. By 12pm, I was exhausted. Then someone asked me about a copy of course information that he cannot open using his laptop. I gave three versions: Words 2003, Words docx and PDF versions. He still cannot open any of the files. *sigh* My patience was wearing thin. I still remembered back in the days when I used a “dumb” phone. He chided by saying “Apa ni telefon cap ayam?”. I have the urge to say the same thing to him now “Apa ni laptop cap ayam?” but I bite my tongue and said “Try to open it again using PDF version and then you convert the PDF to Words”.

What makes me wonder is he taught the course last semester and thus it does not make any sense to ask me to give him the course information this semester. He should have the course information already since last semester. It is the same course information that will be used in the upcoming semester. I am not even the course coordinator. What is wrong with this picture?

COVID-19: FYP supervisor

It was Friday. Even though officially it was my day off but due to the urgency to amend something for the extension of UTMER, I grudgingly prepared the mitigation plan as needed. At first, I did not have any idea on how to simplify the presentation of the mitigation plan. I googled up on the internet and found some examples using PowerPoint. I thought to myself “This is doable”.

While preparing the mitigation plan, I chatted with a junior about a course that we will offer next semester. Since she knew that I was preparing the mitigation plan, we just chatted using Whatsapp. At the same time, I noticed that there were emails coming in – almost non-stop. It was a bit unusual. Normally, I will not get many emails on weekends.

I opened one. Well, it was a former student asking me to be his supervisor. Within another half and hour later, I got similar emails from other students. On top of that I also got messages from some students. Alhamdulillah, not many of this batch have my number.

All in all, guess what? I had more than 10 students asking me to be their final year project (FYP) supervisor. Well, the last time that I had was in 2013. Yup. That was a long time ago. I do not know what is the current practice so I asked around. I asked the course coordinator. She replied: “I will assign them with supervisors from ………….”.

Now, how am I going to break the news to these students? I have to be tactful. So I decided to create a simple poster.

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Some of them replied back. Well, I did not expect that they would reply my email back. Here are some of their responses:

Student A: Ah that’s okay Dr. Your response is very cute and heartwarming hahaha

Student B: Noted, Dr. Thank you for the reply, I’m glad that I had the chance to take your classes before. Have a good day, Dr. 

Student C: I adore your effort in creating the e-poster, Dr. It somehow makes me feel special and appreciated. Thank you too for your prompt reply to my inquiry, Dr Hadijah. I clearly understand your email, always be safe and healthy Dr <3

Student D:

Noted Dr 

?

 . Thank you for your response.

Student E: Assalamualaikum & good morning Dr. Hadijah. I understand Dr. I’m quite disheartened you cannot be my supervisor, but having you as my teacher is good enough! Thank you very much Dr. Hadijah and have a nice day ahead! :DD

COVID-19: Using comics in teaching undergraduate students

Long time ago, I used Calvin and Hobbes’s cartoon for my Social Psychology class. I find that there are certain things related to psychology. The psychological terms depicted in comic strips are relatable. But it has been a while since I taught Social Psychology, so I have not used cartoon or comic strips in teaching.

One of the juniors shared a book by David Kyle Johnson – Science Fiction as Philosophy (Course Guidebook). I was blown away by the idea of using science fiction in teaching, especially teaching philosophy. I think Prof Johnson is a geek who like sci-fi movies. I am not that hard core sci-fi person though. So, even though I was introduced to Star Wars, Star Trek and such by one of my brothers when I was a kindergartener, yet somehow I am not a big fan of those things. I watch such movies for the sake of entertainment, but I never really into knowing the details of each characters or the plots.

But after studying the course guidebook by Prof Johnson, I got some ideas in crafting activities for my class. Nope. I do not teach philosophy though. But let’s see how it goes.

COVID-19: Reading marathon

I bought some books. But never had a chance to really finish reading one book in one sitting. I really had enough of online webinars or whatever sessions. I feel overwhelmed with back to back online sessions. I feel I need to take a break from all those things, and read.

It is not easy to finish reading in one sitting. It has been a while since I am able to do that. Most of the time, I would be disturbed by “other” things.

Reading these two books make me review and reflect my life as a teacher and educator. I know that I am not Erin Gruwell. My students are not like hers. But a stint in a school for a year gives me a glimpse of what a teacher has to face on daily basis. It depends on the school and students that one might have. But at the end of the day, it will come back to the question of “What did I do to make a difference in these students’ lives?” That question has no single answer but it serves as a reminder than teaching is not for the faint-hearted.

COVID-19: Dear former student

An FB post that you posted on 21 September 2021 caught my attention. I could not stop thinking about your well-being. Being a mother of two young children is not easy while working at home to teach due to the pandemic. I know you are strong, but there are times when you might falter. It is just a phase. A tough phase to deal with by a tough lady like you. It is ok to be sad, frustrated and hopeless with certain things but do not let it drag too long.

Take one thing at a time. It is so common to hear people say that. But it is true. Sometimes, we need to break things down into manageable chunks that we can deal with. There is no need to rush on doing things.

I am so proud of you. With what you have done and accomplished so far, I believe and always pray that you will go far in your life as an educator. There were times when I was your teacher, but now, you teach me more than I can teach you. I learn from you and others so many new digital tools that I can use in my class. I learn from you and others to persevere despite the challenges that we might face in life. I know that you are a risk taker in changing hardship into success. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson said “To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often“. Together in this journey as educators, you are not alone. We always have each other. We might have been through hell and back in life. But we have a choice not to remain there. If we choose to live in misery, we will be miserable in life. I know you will make a better choice than that. I pray may Allah ease the challenging process.

COVID-19: IUCEL 2021

At first, I was hesitated to participate in this event. Someone reminded me to look at the data that I have accumulated over two semesters (we always share ideas about our teaching practice). What should I do with it? I was thinking that whatever that I was doing at that time was in the experimental phase. I discussed the idea with a junior. She told me that I should give it a go. There is nothing to lose and the cost of the event is affordable (RM250). So, in between classes and whatsnot, I focused on refining my idea. It was not easy but I just set a deadline (my own) and submitted the application.

There was another colleague from SOE who also submitted her application. Alhamdulillah. I was not alone! Then I found out that there was few others who also submitted their application.

It is a baby step for me in exploring and improving my teaching practice. Am I a SOTL practitioner? Let’s say that I am trying my best to be one. I know that I need to document my journey. This is one of it.

I never thought that I would win a Silver Award for this T&L innovation. It is a humbling experience that I will not forget. In sha Allah

Pssstt… there were people asking me why I did not put any other name in this? Well, it is my teaching and learning practice. Unless there are others who collaboratively do similar kind of things in class and we collaboratively work on things together, I think it is unethical and it shows that I am lack of integrity to allow others to “menempel” in my work. I know it is challenging to uphold the true spirit of I.S.E.S. (Integrity, Synergy, Excellence, Sustainability) with so many distractions and temptations but to remind myself, I will ask this question “Kalau sekejap lagi Allah panggil untuk pergi ke alam lain, apakah sanggup aku nak menjawab apa yang aku buat di alam ini?”

COVID-19: Improving one’s teaching practice

There is no one magic potion in improving one’s teaching practice. It requires conscious awareness and act of improving (it contains series of stages). I have a discussion with one of my juniors. One of the things that she has experimented with in her Philosophy of Education class is using comics as a tools to “spark” discussion.

She presented her findings in a conference about that. She also presented her teaching experience using oral assessment to replace final examination. It is a rare practice to use oral examination for final examination, but she did that. Practically, her students were not as many as I had. So, it was possible for her to conduct oral examination.

Retrospectively, it might take me the same amount of time to assess my students using oral examination as compared to normal written examination if I have a small class (less than 15 students per class). However, if I use oral examination with more than 40 students (like I had last semester for my Psychology of Personality class), it might take me more than a week to complete the oral examination. Let’s say I allocate 30 minutes per person. If I have 40 students, it means that I have to allocate 1200 minutes = 20 hours. I can only do let’s say 2 hours of presentation per day. Meaning, I have to spend around 10 days to complete the oral examination for 40 students. It is too time consuming.

Since majority of my students are teachers, so, the only free time that they have is on weekends. Weekdays? There are so many things going on with the preparation of home-based schooling (PDPR). I must consider this aspect as well.

In short, in improving one’s teaching practice, one should take into consideration about students’ needs, situation and condition. For my junior, upon taking all of that aspects into consideration and discussion with her students, she did oral examination to assess her students’ knowledge (PLO1). Good job! I just wish that she gets the appropriate recognition and appreciation. Well, sometimes people like “fake” stuff over “original” gems (tongue in cheek remark!) It is their choice. It does not downgrade the value of the original gems. Indeed.

COVID-19: Assessment for session 2021/22

To craft valid assessment is an art. An art means it is not depends on one’s personal whim and fancy but it must have the element of an assessment – to measure what it supposed to measure. Sound easy? But many of us are struggling to come out with a rubric as a guideline of assessment. So, the short-cut method is just to use whatever available rubric and change it a bit here and there to suit with the course that we are teaching. The real question is “Can we do that?”

Since we are using the new course information (CI) starting next semester (session 2021/22), I decided to revamp the rubrics of the courses that I teach next semester. It is not an easy process. I used the rubric handbook as a guideline and looked at the CLOs and PLOs that will be addressed in each course. One of the challenges is even though the PLOs might be the same for different courses, yet, the assignments could be different and thus, no one rubric is applicable for different assignments.

I thought it might take me a few days to create the rubrics. Well, days turn into weeks. But I am satisfied with the results. There is another one course which I have not “updated” the rubric. I am not the course coordinator. So, I have to wait for the course coordinator’s decision before I make any changes.

For the rest of the courses, I have uploaded the CI, instructions for assignments and rubrics on Padlet. Since Padlet is not cheap, I intend to use it extensively. I do not mind to be called as “The Padlet lecturer” as I know that using Padlet helps me to organise my materials for teaching as well as to monitor collaborative discussion among students. Of course, I can do it using ELearning features like chat and forum, but I just want to give my students different experience of using different platforms and tools available. In addition, Padlet can be used as a platform for formative assessment. (Psssttt…. I also can claim the activity that I give in Padlet as e-content material. Want to know more information about that?)