Are you a lecturer or a tuition teacher?

One of the students that I teach tuition this year is the daughter of my primary school mate. So, I told him that his daughter made some silly mistakes (she was confused about grammar i.e. verb and noun). But somehow other friends who also have children who are taking SPM this year know about the tuition thingy. One of them asked me “Kau bukan mengajar kat UTM ke? Sejak bila buat kelas tuisyen? Ada pusat tuisyen ke?”

The answer to the first question is YES. The answer to the second and third questions is NO. I am not trained to be an English teacher. But spending one year at school teaching English for Latihan Ikhtisas gives me the chance to conduct tuition class until now. I am still learning from my colleagues and former students who are senior English teachers. They are the ones who share ideas with me and teach the students on daily basis. I am clearly cannot compare myself with them on that level. My stance is simple. I teach courses such as pedagogy, and thus I need to remain abreast of school-related stuff. One way is to be at school as regularly as possible. That’s it. It is that simple.

What is the difference between being a teacher and me as a tuition instructor (I cringe to use the word “teacher” at this moment)? If I can use an analogy, the teachers are the gardeners, I am just a lawn-cutter. I just come once a while to spruce up things a bit here and there. The plants cannot thrive well without the care of a gardener.

UTM Blended Learning Reporting System 2023

Blended Learning UTM report can be accessed from the following link

URL: https://caps.utm.my/caps/

Userid : email utm (i.e. nihra@utm,my)

Password: staff number (unless you change it)

The steps are similar to the previous blended learning.

  1. Log in by using your email and staff number
  2. You will see the list of courses and blended learning level. Only level 5 will have the + button (blue color) activated where you can download your certificate. (Click the + button to see the button where you can download your certificate)

Note: Do not use this URL link (this is for last year 2022 Blended Learning) http://elearn1.utm.my/caps

MAJLIS BERSAMA NAIB CANSELOR BULAN OGOS 2023: 1 Ogos 2023 (Selasa)

Sesi kali ini, antara perkara yang aku belajar dari Datuk NC ialah tentang sikap. Bukan aku tidak faham tentang konsep sikap, tingkah laku dan apa kaitannya dengan tindakan, matlamat dan sebagainya sebelum ini. Tetapi dari kata-katanya membuat aku berfikir tentang “Apakah matlamat yang aku ingin capai?”

“The right attitude cultivates the right behaviour which leads to the desired outcome”

Melihat kembali usiaku yang akan menginjak ke siri 5 beberapa tahun lagi, aku hanya berharap matlamat aku untuk _________ dapat tercapai. Itu impian ramai orang. Tetapi melihat video viral tentang seorang penceramah yang juga pensyarah USIM yang meninggal ketika memberi kuliah subuh, aku tersentak. Dapatkah aku peluang sebegitu?

Wakelet is no longer free

Wakelet has its own community. After having being a member for about a year, I notice there are several changes in Wakelet. To be a member, I had to take a test and a certificate would be given as a proof of membership. However, the membership is valid for a year.

Honestly, I use Wakelet this semester to assign an asynchronous activity to my postgraduate students. They find Wakelet as a platform that easy to use. But, I notice that my students could not write any comment or feedback (unlike Padlet). At first, I thought it might be due to the settings. Later, I realise perhaps it has something to do with the new policies. Yup. It is no longer free.

Should I add another one more platform to subscribe? It is still affordable but unlike Prezi which I still use extensively for my class notes, I think having Padlet is sufficient for the time being. So far, since I started my subscription in 2020, the fees remain the same (the price is different for those subscribers who start their subscription in 2022).

I know that some of you might ask why should I subscribe these platforms whereas the UTM elearning is more than enough. The thing is, I want to enrich my students learning experiences. I know I can enrich their experiences without having to subscribe any platform but I believe that it is a good investment for myself to learn something new. I do not know how far I could keep up with the everchanging digital platforms, applications etc. But I try my best to something new every semester. This is my goal.

Pembelajaran Teradun Gantian

Semasa PKP, UTM menggunakan pembelajaran teradun gantian sebagai mod pengajaran. Pembelajaran teradun gantian (atau PTG) berbeza dengan pembelajaran teradun (atau Blended Learning). Perbezaan adalah dari sudut tujuan, cara pelaksanaan dan pemberatan pelaksanaan mod kombinasi bersemuka dan dalam talian.

Cara pelaksanaan bagi pembelajaran teradun dan pembelajaran teradun gantian adalah berdasarkan kombinasi pembelajaran bersemuka dan dalam talian. Sebagai contoh pembelajaran teradun, seorang pensyarah boleh menggunakan kombinasi mod bersemuka dan dalam talian sepanjang satu semester (14 minggu) dalam julat 30 – 79% pembelajaran dalam talian yang menyokong pembelajaran bersemuka. Dalam konteks ini, pembelajaran dalam talian tidak menggantikan sesi pengajaran dan pembelajaran bersemuka. Mod dalam talian berdasarkan bahan pembelajaran, aktiviti dan penilaian yang dilaksanakan mengikut nisbah 1:7:3:2.

Akan tetapi pembelajaran teradun gantian pula ianya dilaksanakan di mana seorang pensyarah akan menggunakan mod pengajaran dan pembelajaran dalam talian sebagai gantian kepada mod bersemuka dalam julat 30-79% dalam satu semester pengajian (14 minggu). Contoh: Dalam tempoh 14 minggu, seorang pensyarah boleh menggunakan pengajaran dan pembelajaran dalam talian sebanyak 36 jam (30%) bagi kursus 3 kredit (120 jam). Mod dalam talian berdasarkan bahan pembelajaran, aktiviti dan penilaian yang dilaksanakan mengikut nisbah 40:40:20.

Akan tetapi sekiranya terdapat pelajar yang berada di luar kawasan Johor (seperti pelajar yang merupakan seorang guru yang berpindah mengajar ke Kedah ketika dalam pengajian sarjana), hal kes terpencil sebegini membolehkan pensyarah menggunakan mod pembelajaran dalam talian sepenuhnya sepanjang satu semester sekiranya perlu. Tetapi ianya perlulah dimaklumkan ke pihak fakulti atau sekolah.

Untuk maklumat terperinci, boleh rujuk slaid ini.

FSSH Strategic Talk 1/2023: Islamic engagement in Social Sciences and Humanities – 16 July 2023 (Sunday)

There is a strategic talk by two guest speakers from University College of Yayasan Pahang: Assoc Prof Dr Azhar Ramli – Deputy VC of Student Development and Community Diplomacy and Assoc Prof Dr Amran Muhammad – Dean, International Institute of Islamic Civilisation. The session is divided into 2 parts: a talk and a forum. FSSH dean, Prof Dr Arieff Salleh Rosman is the moderator for the forum.

There are some academic staff who were chosen to join the session i.e. compulsory. But there are others who come on volunteer basis. Other than academic staff, students are also invited. But it is examination week so it is understandable that some students could not come. Those who came are PhD students (with no final examination).

Strategic talk is meant for staff enrichment and enhancement of FSSH branding. This is aligned with FSSH 2030 vision. Thus, it is essential to be ready from now to fulfil FSSH 2030 objectives. One of the aims is to have 15% of academic staff with Professor status.

Among FSSH Itqan project’s aims are:

  1. Attractive branding.
  2. Great talent.

PART 1: Talk by Assoc Prof Dr Amran Muhammad

There is a movement in renewal and revival Islamic knowledge. One of the steps is through engaging research in Islamic revealed knowledge with sciences. There is a need of paradigm or platform in which the understanding of al fiqh al akbar as the fundamental of Islamic sciences should be enhanced. The root of Islamic sciences is known as kalam which comprises of usul al din, al fiqh and al akbar. This should be the fundamental knowledge. The root of Islamic knowledge is related to Iman (‘aqidah). The trunk of the tree of Islamic knowledge is usul al fiqh (al fiqh al awsat). The branches of Islamic sciences include fiqh (fiqh al amal and al zahir), tasawwuf (fiqh al qalb) and such which related to shariah (Islam) and akhlaq (ihsan).

All propositional knowledge is based on analytical knowledge (nazari, ‘aqli and mantiqi) which is related to realistism as compared to textual literary knowledge (based on naql, nassar and khabar) which is related to literalism and mystical/ metaphysical knowledge (zauqi, ilham and kashf) is related to spiritualism. The balance between analytical, textual and mystical knowledge is crucial to benefit human beings and civilisation.

As Muslim, being a consumer of knowledge is not enough. We need to be able to be analytic and scientific inviduals to ensure that we are able to navigate between logic, philosophy and revealed knowledge.

Phases of learning tawhid are divided into 3.

  1. ‘Aqidah: the discourse on the fundemantals of the ‘aqidah without the detailed discussion on the rational and textual demonstration.
  2. Usul al din: the discourse on the aspects of ‘aqidah in the light of rational and textual demonstration.
  3. Kalam: the discourse on various sects of ‘aqidah, particularly erroneous sects of elucidating their discourse, correcting their confusion and refuting their claims.

Go visit Kalam Research and Media.

PART 2: Strategic forum

Free floating discussion. There will be a seminar in collaboration of FSSH UTM and University College of Yayasan Pahang in September 2023.

What doesn’t kill you make your stronger…..

Someone gave me a newspaper article about teachers’ behavior in implementing punishment. This person just wanted my opinion about the right way to punish students. Well, to differentiate what is right or wrong is a bit tricky. It is contextual. But if you want to see punishment from psychological perspectives, in specific operant conditioning (a theory by B. F Skinner), you will see that punishment does not have to be physical.

When I was 10 years old, I was struggling with double digits multiplication. I vividly remember the incident well until now. To cut the long story short, I was called in front of the class with another 3 students. I only remember one out of the three students. One of them is N because she stood on my left side. There was no one standing on my right side. After so many years, the incident seemed like a dream, or more like a nightmare. It felt as if that incident never happened in my life even though sometimes the memory still bugs me once a while. This is what we call as repressed memory. Even though the idea of repressed memory is controversial, but in my case, it is as if subconsciously I purposely wish not to remember it. This is quite logical if we refer to Freud’s defense mechanism of repression.

I never met the teacher again after I left primary school. I know some of my friends had met her once or more than that. I feel there is no need to meet her. I still respect her as a teacher but what she had done is unforgettable. That is for sure. Someone told me that I need to move on. After all, this teacher already passed away. Lesson needs to be learned. Every time I teach a relevant topic, I will use that as an example of what a teacher should not do. In a way, that incident gives me ideas to be a better teacher. For that, I thank her (arwah Cikgu N) for that. Al – fatihah.