Category Archives: Teaching

A Morning Talk on the Impact of COVID-19 on Psychological Well-Being

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Yesterday I had the opportunity to deliver a short talk during our morning gathering at the Office of the Vice Chancellor. It was a little bit impromptu, and I’m in a middle of doing some readings on the latest literature on COVID-19 and its impact on psychological well-being. And so I chose to share with my office mates some of my thoughts based on the readings.

Firstly, I highlighted some of the insights I gained after going through my students’ reflections on their learning experiences during the MCO. The majority of them expressed their worries and were anxious especially when face-to-face classes were cancelled and were replaced by fully online learning. Their concerns have now become my personal concern, I told my officemates, who are mostly the non-academic staff.

Among the attendees were Datuk VC, Pro-VC (Strategy), Deputy Registrar of VC’s Office and the rest my colleagues at the Office.

I then shared the findings of an article I just finished reading entitled “The psychological impact of COVID-19 on the mental health in the general population” by Serafini et al. (2020). Among the points highlighted are the main psychological reactions in the general population which include pervasive anxiety, frustration, boredom and loneliness. One of the risk factors as being mentioned in the article is “alexithymia” which  literally defined as ‘no words for mood’ (p.4).

We then discussed the importance of acknowledging those who had been deeply affected by the pandemic; it could be among our family members or our colleagus. Lucky for UTM because the university’s Counselling Centre apparently offers the assistance to all staff the emotional support needed in order to face the challenge posed by COVID-19.

For further reading, the article by Serafini et al. (2020) can be accessed via this link https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7337855/

MPPU 1024 Research Method in Education: Webex session #4

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The online meeting for MPPU 1024 (Section 02) this week combined two topics which include qualitative data collection and analysis.

The first topic of discussion

Since the topics were combined, they might be a bit overwhelming for some students. Hence, students were asked to post their questions on e-learning forum for any clarification on the topics.

The second topic of the day

All links to the recording are also available on e-learning for students to access, including https://utm.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/utm/recording/playback/25b4bfc9ffe4407694470f7d37323261

Links to the recording are available on e-learning portal

MPPU 1024 Research Method in Education: Webex session #3

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The third Webex meeting for MPPU1024 was held yesterday. The topic for this week was “Introduction to Qualitative Research Design”.

The topic discussed during the online meeting

During the online session, students were introduced to the various designs of qualitative research, which include:

  • Narrative research
  • Phenomenological research
  • Grounded theory research
  • Ethnographic research
  • Case study research

The “evolution” of a publication was also discussed

The links to the recordings are provided on the e-learning portal for students who wished to re-visit the meeting https://utm.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/utm/recording/playback/4b5393ec56634d0cba19d53eb2fbb855

Links of the recording is available on e-learning portal

 

MPPU 1024 Research Method in Education: Webex session #2

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The second Webex meeting for MPPU 1204 (Section 02) was conducted yesterday. For this session, I proceed with the topic of “Formulating Research Problems in Qualitative Inquiry”.

Topic of the day

Sub-topics included the definitions of qualitative research and the differences between quantitative and qualitative research. I also demonstrated to students on the stages involved in developing research problem, problem statement, research objectives and research questions.

Students were demonstrated the steps in developing research problem

Similar to last week session, all links to the recordings are shared via e-learning portals, including the one that could be accessed in public domain https://utm.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/utm/recording/playback/d6cfb83561814468b29451b060ffbfac

The links for accessing the recording are available on e-learning portal.

 

COVID-19 MCO: Updated instructions for MPPE1113 group presentations

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We are halfway through the semester that is unprecedentedly affected by COVID-19 pandemic. Like other academics, I have no choice but to jump and dive into the ocean of mobile learning. The one thing that I refuse to claim that I’m the expert.

Nonetheless, the School, Faculty and UTM’s CTL are quick to respond to the needs of this kind of academics (who are not that techno-savvy), by offering loads of online courses on online learning and assessment. I found them all to be useful.

The insights gained from all these online courses on teaching and learning is that I need to re-design the instructions for my classroom assessment and this is particularly related to the way that students have to present their group assignments. instead of F2F presentation, I specifically re-designed the instructions by asking students to complete the following:

  • Read and discuss the topic assigned to your group.
  • Prepare a 30 minute presentation based on your collective understandings towards the topic and the sub topics.
  • The slides need to have narrations i.e. audio recordings of your explanations of the points in the slides.
  • Here are some examples of online tutorials:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP3kTmsnbnY
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxhxvg__zUQ
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=selYsj94RQg
  • Each group will then provide the concept mapping based on your group’s assigned topics, and exchange it with the other groups.
  • For the topics that will be covered by me, each one of you needs to prepare one concept mapping for each of the topic own your own.

These updated instructions are uploaded on the class’ e-learning. All MPPE 1113 Cognitive Psychology students can download the slides at their own convenient.

The revised instructions for group assignment (MPPE 1113) due to COVID-19 MCO. Students can download the PDF version on the class’ e-learning portal.

MPPU 1024 Research Method in Education: Webex session #1

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I conducted a Webex session yesterday for MPPU1024 Research Methods in Education (Section 02). I have 25 students enrolled in the course for this semester. I took over the course from Dr. Hadijah after she had covered all topics for the quantitative research methodology. Beginning this week, I’ll be facilitating students with the qualitative approach in conducting educational research.

Revisiting educational research. It’s essential for students to have an overview of research in education.

For the first session, it was a relief to find that most students were able to access Webex. The were technical hiccups here and there but alhamdulillah, possible to be rectified once you get the hang of Webex’s tools. The meeting was scheduled on 4:15pm, following the original face-to-face classroom timetable.

During the meeting I focused on the topic “An Overview of Educational Research”. The sub-topics included:

  1. Differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches in educational research.
  2. Research paradigms in social sciences.
  3. Philosophical underpinnings of qualitative research in social sciences.

One of the sub-topics discussed during the meeting was the philosophical underpinnings of social sciences research.

Students who wished to watch the recordings could do so via the link given on the course e-learning portal. The recording is also available in public domain via https://utm.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/utm/recording/playback/9806f6ec24234572b9001fde23b4a428.During the online meeting, students were also reminded to post questions on the e-learning forum.

Students could watch the recording of the online meeting via the given links.

Updating e-learning portals to accommodate the phases of COVID-19 MCO

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Due to the multi-phases of MCO that we have to embrace throughout the entire semester 2 session 2019/2020, I have to keep on updating the e-learning portals of my PG classes from time to time. For this semester, I’m having three PG courses: MPPE 1113 Cognitive Psychology (Perdana Programme and Offshore Programme) and MPPU 1024 Research Methodology in Education.

Updated weekly instructions for MPPU 1024

 

Apart from informing students about the fact that all of us need to adjust to the new way of learning method (abrupt migration to online learning; 100%-ly starting 18 March 2020), I do feel that it is also vital to check on their progress and mental health as well. Most of my students shared their concerns via our classes’ WhatsApp groups, therefore I really feel that active communication between me and my students must be frequently maintained. Although I do feel at times I served as their personal “helpdesk” (well, because students will send me personal messages at any time of the day, which obviously affected my work-life balance), but I kept reminding myself that through this pandemic crises, it all boils down to the sacrifices that all of us should make. Indeed, it is a trial time for all of us now.

Updated weekly instructions for MPPE 1113

Congratulations Samia!

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I would like to congratulate my Master student (mixed-mode) Samia Arjumandi for successfully negotiated her proposal defense this morning. Thank you to the examiners, Prof. Yeo and AP Dr. Zainudin for all the constructive comments and suggestions. Thank you also to AP Dr. Baharin for chairing the session.

Samia presenting her master thesis proposal
Panel of the day

From a master’s thesis to a journal article: Vicky’s journey

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Later today, Dr. Aqeel, my colleague at SOE who is the leader of our School’s publication committee dropped me a message, informing me that my master student’s paper had been published. Alhamdulillah… The journal is a Scopus indexed journal, so I couldn’t help but feeling proud of such accomplishment.

Vicky’s published article entitled “Juvenile Delinquents’ Learning Experiences in School within Prison: Narratives from the Malaysian Context”

In 2017, Vicky started her master thesis under my supervision and graduated in 2018. I found out later that she wished to pursue her PhD study and knowing that publication is one of the plus points for scholarship applications, I offered Vicky the assistance she needed. Since I still have some budget left from my research grant, I informed Vicky that I will help her with the publication fee. In fact, I had even asked two of my colleagues to do the editing and proofreading process, and later invited them as co-authors (as they say, to cut the extra costs…)

Feel free to read Vicky’s paper on my ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338392675_Juvenile_Delinquents’_Learning_Experiences_in_School_within_Prison_Narratives_from_the_Malaysian_Context

Or alternatively on the journal’s website http://www.hrpub.org/download/20191130/UJERA14-19590969.pdf