COVID-19: Penggunaan Aplikasi Zoom

What I like about the Masterclass Pemimpin GSL by Sime Darby is they provide a note that I can refer to. Being a slow-mo and not so tech savvy, having such notes is helpful. But at the same time, since I also attended the synchronous session, I have a chance to do hands-on thing with the guidance from the facilitators.

I notice that the facilitators are young and energetic. So, I hope their enthusiasm would rub off a bit on me. It is not easy to keep myself updated with the technology and teaching/learning tools or apps, but I will learn some of it slowly according to my pace and needs.

COVID-19: Microsoft Teams training

I have been attending trainings on Microsoft Teams since last year but I am still struggling to use it. Of course, some of my students had become my guinea pig to experiment the Microsoft Teams features. Well, take it this way. When I show them what I am setting for their classes etc., they also learn new things.

I still remember one of my RS2 students (Master student) who was my first “sample” in my little experiment. Together we learn that, in order for her to access materials that I put in Microsoft Teams, she needs to have live.utm.my account. It is not an account which is assigned to them automatically. Students need to request or I can request (as an instructor of a course) to UTMDigital team – Email them at software@utm.my. Pssstt it is better if the students request it themselves.

From the training conducted by Dr Azizul yesterday, I learned from Dr Marlia and others (participants) about new features that Microsoft Teams has. Dr Azizul even said :”Saya pun baru tahu benda ini“. It makes the learning process less solitary.

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Often than not, when I am stuck with something, I would google it up but nothing beats human interaction. So, like yesterday, when Dr Azizul encountered certain glitches like (Take Over) during the demonstration of Microsoft Meet, there were other participants who gave their opinions (possible solutions) and Dr Azizul even used us to experiment with new things. The session became interactive. But being a lecturer, there were times that Dr Azizul instructed us like his students. Well, some of use were a bit unruly to try out things to the point Dr Azizul’s slides “went” missing. Whose fault is that? So many of us were clicking the Take Over button at that time. It was kind of difficult to find the culprit.

But it was so cool! I feel that we are learning together and there is no air or feeling of superiority exists during the training. I feel assured that we are struggling together in learning new things. I feel supported as there are regular users like Dr Marlia and others who shared their experience, tips and certain valuable information. I find that I become more confident in using Microsoft Teams (even though it is still a baby step for me).

After the session, I tried out few things on my own. I told one of my juniors that we can experiment to use Microsoft Teams next semester. She later shared with me videos created by Mike Tholfsen. Wow, there are so many new videos! I like it so much! In sha Allah I will try my best to prepare my Microsoft Teams classroom (errr… a term that I use as it has similar features like Google Classroom).

How to restore and backup a course on your ELearning?

I attended a sharing session today. I waited more than an hour to know about how to restore and back up a course on ELearning which was explained in less than 5 minutes. So, I googled up if I can find anything from the internet.

I found a video by UTMLEAD. (Duh… I should know better, right? Just google it!)

One of the facilitators also did a video about backup and restore but once I get the video, I will upload it later here or make another post.

There is also a step-by-step poster by UTMLEAD on your ELearning (but sometimes, we might overlook it, need to scroll down a bit the main page to find it). But as a reminder to myself, I put it here.

backup

E-Content UTM 2021

I just had a session with Dr Nurbiha about e-content. There is a difference of marking this year for video that you create and upload on Youtube (as an example of platform where you share your material) which you can get 2 marks for that. Make sure you make it “Public”.

Well, honestly I do not know what I got last year but this year, since we are only allowed to upload 5 e-content materials, so I will upload within that limit.

What are the things that I plan to upload this year? I plan to upload these 4 materials.

  1. Gamification (one of my Quizziz questions – I used for last semester’s class).
  • Just make sure that if you want to claim any Quizziz (category: Gamification), the questions that you have in one set of quiz must be at least contains 10 questions (which equivalent to 10 marks if it is one mark for each question or 5 marks if each question is equivalent to 0.5 marks). If you have 3 questions, it might not be enough. Logically, normally the quiz that we give to students might be at least 5 marks or 10 marks. It is quite rare to give students 3 marks for a quiz (unless you give 5 mini quizzes in which each carries 3 marks and only have 3 questions per quiz – but it does not sound like a normal practice, isn’t it?)

2. Video based learning (one of my Youtube videos). Any video that you create and share publicly is 2 marks.

3. Collaborative tool (my Padlet page for MPPU1024 class that I taught with my colleague).

  • For Padlet, to get better marks, make sure you have a class note (you create your own – like a PowerPoint note) and post several questions that your students can answer and generate discussion. Better yet, give a specific instruction for students to give their opinions based on other’s response/answer. You can discuss the answer through synchronous session or students can read other’s opinion asynchronously. In this way, students would interact with the materials (class note plus questions) that you put in a Padlet page and by answering the questions that you post, students have to answer the questions (this is interactive) and when you give a specific instruction to students to give opinion to other’s answer/ response, indirectly you prompt students to interact with each other.
  • Example of instruction that I give to students (pssst… you can copy paste the instruction too for your class). This is the instruction that I gave to students using Padlet.

a) Read your class note (note: make sure it is your class note that you create)
b) Answer the questions based on the given scenarios.
c) If you agree or disagree with your friend’s answer, give your own justification.  Write in the comment box.  You can either remain anonymous if you wish or can write your name.  

  • So, how many marks that I can get for this? Well, I am not the evaluator so I do not know in definite but I can assure you, it will not be 1 mark (tongue in cheek remark!).

4. Communication tool (one of my Prezi notes – just receptive, not interactive even though there was an activity that I posted within the note). This is a recycle from last semester but I added few more slides for more extra information. I was told that you can recycle the same materials provided you add new information, pictures etc. on the latest version. I am testing it this year by recycling old notes which I added new information and changed the background and layout.

There you go. Only 4 materials that I will upload this year. If I get 5 bonus marks for all four materials that I uploaded, I will share with all of you next year, In sha Allah.

Senarai semak sesi segerak

Ada orang beri cadangan untuk letak senarai semak (checklist) untuk sesi segerak (synchronous session). Senarai semak ini digunakan setiap kali sesi segerak sebagai ingatan kepada semua yang hadir. Kalau dalam kelas, sebagai sesi induksi – sebelum memulakan sesi pengajaran dan pembelajaran.

Dulu aku tidak pernah terfikir pun nak buat poster macam ni. Tapi bila dapat tips dari Cikgu Sam yang hebat, aku cuba untuk ikut apa yang diamalkan. Cikgu Sam pun ada pesan untuk tiru apa yang dianggap amalan yang baik. Jadi aku cuba la untuk buat juga. Walaupun aku mengajar di universiti, tak semestinya apa yang cikgu-cikgu guna tak boleh diamalkan dalam pengajaran aku juga kan? Learning happens when we teach. Indeed.

COVID-19: 2nd dose of vaccine

Unlike the first dose, I experienced more severe effect. I got my second vaccine on 30 August 2021 (Friday) around 1130am. I didn’t feel any immediate effects few hours after that. My body was aching all over after maghrib. It was getting worst around midnight. I had fever. I had taken Panadol before I went to sleep. But it didn’t help much to curb the feverish feeling that I experienced around midnight and early morning.

So, I ended up having trouble to sleep on the first night that I got vaccinated. The next day (Saturday) after Subuh prayer, I felt worst. My body aching did not go away. My body was aching when I was lying on my bed and it didn’t go away when I tried to sit. I felt light-headed when I was walking.

There was a session at 2pm (Saturday 20 August 2021) that I wanted to attend. I just could not miss this session. I ended up lying on my bed with my laptop on my stomach to attend the session and write a note using this blog.

I decided to take a leave on Sunday (21 August 2021). Even though there was a panel meeting on Sunday, I decided to skip it. I just needed a rest. I just ignore whatever messages that came in that day. But somebody called and asked me about something which is needed for auditing purposes even though the course is not audited yet (it is just offered last two semesters – a new course). I felt much better after Asar so I tried to prepare the needed document. Just do it for once and for all as I have deadlines for other that I need to do.

Based on my experience dealing with the side effects of vaccination, it gives me a time to think about my life as I was lying down on my bed, looking at the ceiling – doing nothing. All of this while, I realise that I take things for granted. Small things matter and I should not ignore when my body starts to show certain symptoms. I should not be guilty to take a rest or take a break. I deserve it. Indeed.