21st Century colonisation

When KSSM was introduced a few years ago, one of the things that they change is the English textbook.  Now, for form 1 and 2, they use Pulse 2.  Of course, it causes uproar among teachers who are concerned with its content.  Why?  There are many topics are not related to Malaysian culture.  There is nothing wrong to learn about other people cultures.  After all, we aim our younger generation to be global citizens, right?  But, isn’t it ironic if they are not away about their own local culture?  

The way I see it, it could be a form of 21st century colonisation.  Many might not agree with me.  But, regardless of Industrial Revolution and whatsnot, we need to retain our identity no matter what.  

Malaysian Newton Fund call for proposals

IMPORTANT

Call submission deadline: 23 October 2019

“Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) are working collaboratively under the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund. Together we will invest up to £2 million (RM 11 million) for innovative projects that provide collaborative solutions to the challenges of urban mobility and waste to wealth in Malaysia” [To know more, visit their website HERE. ] 

A bitter sweet moment

It is always a bitter sweet moment for me every time I got Dunelm Magazine.  Why?  The salutation that they use i.e. “Dr Jaffri”.  It would always remind me of my late dad, my family sacrifices, my mom’s illness during my absent and my own struggle that I had to face when I was in Durham.   Getting this magazine would always bring tears to my eyes.  But, enough of crying for me now.  I got new idea to adapt one of the articles for my MUET reading comprehension questions that I can use for the Academic Camp.  

ELPPT and Webometric

Marking scheme for Webometric in your ELLPT bonus marks is based on webometric presence/visibility rating *people.utm.my/* which is indexed by Google search engine.  For more information, you can go this this link.

You must make sure that anything that you post either in your page or normal post is abide by the policy and guideline of UTM 

Webometric presence rating ELLPT bonus marks (%)
2000 and above 5
1000 – 1999 4
500 – 999 3
250 – 499 2
100 – 249 1
100 and below 0

 

Self-assess to know your mental health

Most of the time, we have the symptoms of psychological distress but unlike physical health like flu, fever and such, we overlook the psychological symptoms that indicate we are not ok.  Perhaps, it is easier to “see” physical symptoms as compared to psychological symptoms.  But, the thing when it comes to psychological symptoms, it can be manifested through physical expression.  So, in this case, we can self-assess ourselves as a preliminary attempt to get help from professional people who are trained to help us with psychological distress. 

I find useful website with various self-tests for FREE (only some of the tests are FREE such as mental health assessment, anger, attention span, mental speed, romantic personality, procrastination, blood pressure quiz, and menopause quiz ) .  

UTM webometrics assessment [Penilaian Webometrik UTM]

I am “super” slow when it comes to using this webpage.  I am only recently learning about how they calculate  marks for webometrik for ELPPT.  I know some of you are rolling your eyes.  You can roll your eyes as you wish.  But I am learning.  I learn from others slowly.  I need time to digest this new thing (new for me, not for others).  One of the things that I pick up from others’ webpage and Nihra’s note is about how to know your webpage presence rating.  

There are the steps as follow:

  1. Open www.google.com as usual
  2. At google search column (the middle one), type “https://people.utm.my/hadijahjafrri” (site:your webpage url)
  3. Then, google will give your webpage search result.

Note: My webpage present rating is not much as compared to those who have won Citra Karisma award for Webometric.  But, like Dr Seuss once said “It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.”

As I have admitted, I am a slow academician who strongly believe in the slow professor principles and I am “in” with the slow professor movement.  

“Slow professors “advocate deliberation over acceleration” because they “need time to think, and so do our students. Time for reflection and open-ended inquiry is not a luxury but is crucial to what we do.”  [excerpt from Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy (University of Toronto Press).