2018 marks the 17th year of my career as an academic at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Since joining the Faculty of Education in 2001, I always feel that I am embarking in a journey through which I could develop both my personal and professional selves. As an academic, I prioritise my responsibility in enhancing students’ learning experiences. For the past 17 years of my practice I am responsible to teach a number of courses both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. For the undergraduate programs, I have conducted several educational foundations courses. Among the subjects are Philosophy of Education (SPP 1002), Educational Psychology (SPP 1012), Foundations of Pedagogy (SPP 2002), Test and Assessment in Education (SPP 2032), Research Methods in Education (SPP 3202), and Guidance and Counseling (SPF 4702). Other than these courses, I also conducted two electives: Psychology of Family (SPB 2773) and Adolescent Development and Personality (SPF 4112). In addition, I taught Test and Assessment in Counseling (SPF 4753) for a group of teacher students specializing in Guidance and Counseling.
For the postgraduate programs, I have the experience in teaching a number of courses. Through team-teaching with the senior lecturers in my faculty, I had the experience in conducting three subjects for the Master students majoring in Guidance and Counseling, as well as Educational Psychology. Among other courses that I teach are Contemporary Issues in Education (MPU 1000), Advanced Educational Psychology (MPF 1143) and Assessment in Counseling (MPF 1753), as well as Research Methods in Education I (MPF 1024). Currently, I teach one of the core courses i.e. Cognitive Psychology (MPPPE 1113) at the postgraduate level. In addition, I also involved as one of the lecturers and facilitators for short courses in research methodology for Master and PhD research students. They are Research Method and Data Analysis (MPPU 1060) and Research Method and Data Analysis in Education (MPPU 1074). Since 2011, I am also one of the lecturers and facilitators for research methodology courses at Centre of Engineering Education (CEE) UTM. Among the courses that I have involved in are Research Method in Engineering Education (PLPT 6123) and Data Analysis Techniques (PLT 6133/PLPT 6133).
My philosophy of teaching lies on the concept of accountability. I personally believe that to become an excellent educator one has to be true to him or herself and to be sincere in his or her intentions. Part of the responsibilities of being an educator is to ensure that his or her students developed into balanced individuals, with moral values and positive conducts. I also believe that educators must also have the passion for knowledge, both contemporary and spiritual, and are able to apply the acquired knowledge to guide their thoughts and actions. Teaching therefore is not merely confined to the technical aspects. I usually highlight these elements in the first meeting of my classes, as I want my students not to take up my subjects just in order to fulfil the program requirements or earn good grades, but to have meaningful learning experiences throughout the entire semester. That is, for every week’s topic, students must have some reflections of how they understand the concepts or theories that have been discussed. For example, in my classes, students must be able to comprehend new concepts, to provide their own examples for each concept, to generate questions out of their understandings, to be able to highlight their own ideas, and to even argue if they have other points of view. In short, I expect my students to be critical towards certain issues, and at the same time confident with their creative and expressive minds.
Apart from teaching, my other duty is supervising students’ theses. As of Semester I, Session 2017/2018, I have supervised 43 undergraduate students and 41 postgraduate students. In general, my students’ research areas were mainly focused on the current issues in education both within the school setting I have always encouraged my students to explore genuine issues from the psychological point of view. For instance, I have guided my students to embark on topics concerning disciplinary problems at schools, learning problems, students’ attitudes and perceptions toward computer-based learning, and the use of second language (English) in teaching mathematics and science subjects. I also supervised students during their teaching practices or counseling practicum at schools and other settings. In every academic session, I have been appointed as a supervisor whose responsibility is to observe, assess and guide undergraduate and Master students who underwent their teaching practices or counseling practicum at various secondary schools in various parts of the State of Johor. The visits to these schools have given me the opportunities to meet and interact with different people who were the educators, school counselors and school administrators. Discussions with these people have helped me to understand the educational processes at schools as well as the real problems among students that occurred in schools. Such experiences have given me the perspective in understanding the actual educational setting and the current issues related to it. To date, I have supervised 41 undergraduate teacher trainees and four counselor trainees. While at the Master level, I have supervised eight counselor trainees. Currently I am supervising four master students and three PhD students who are conducting their research in the area of educational psychology.
Through out the years I am constantly trying to improve my teaching by experimenting the many approaches of teaching. Often I stumbled upon my puzzle of practice and this had become the basis of my PhD project. Hence, I regarded my PhD as my inquisitive journey towards personal practical knowledge of teaching in higher education. Based on the expertise gained during my PhD project, upon returning from my PhD, I was appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) as one of expert consultants and researchers for Module Development Project – ACELLT Leadership Development Training Program in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) from 2011 to 2013. From 2013 until 2015, I was again appointed by MOHE and AKEPT as one of the speakers/facilitators for AKEPT Strategic Leadership Development Program (A-SLEAD) in Learning and Teaching: Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoTL) (Level 1).
Considering myself to be a qualitative inquirer, my current research interest is related to qualitative research method in education, a passion I developed while conducting my doctoral research. As a practitioner-researcher, I continue to venture into the multi-faceted qualitative designs as means of exploratory research on transformative learning and continuing professional development among teachers and academics, across disciplines and specialisations. At the moment, my research projects focus on the cognitive aspect of learning and teaching. I recently secured a research grant in studying undergraduates’ performances of game-based problem solving task by using brain functional connectivity. Prior to that, I received a FRGS to develop a model of cognitive pattern in complex problem solving for engineering undergraduates. Both projects are interdisciplinary in nature, as I collaborated with my colleagues from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Centre of Engineering Education (CEE), and also with a colleague from Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK).
In 2014 I was selected by UTMLead to participate in a professional course in tertiary education management offered by the University of Melbourne. I was awarded with Graduate Certificate of Tertiary Education Management in 2015. Based on this credential, since 2014, I am the Research Executive to the Vice Chancellor of UTM, and later in 2016, I have also been appointed as the Research Officer at the Strategy Management Office (SMO). The years of working closely with the Vice Chancellor and also with the Pro Vice Chancellor (Strategy) have opened up my horizon of thinking about managing a public university and the process involved in strategic planning, implementation as well as monitoring. All these experiences have also expanded my research scope which include higher education management, organisational culture and academic leadership, to name but a few.
As of 2018, I have authored and co-authored more than 30 publications which include journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers. I always regarded my position at UTM as part of my life journey and I shall continue to strive for excellent while performing my amanah, mainly as an educator and as a researcher in this university, insyaAllah.
I welcome collaborators and students who are willing to make meaning out of their learning experiences to join me in embarking on an inquisitive journey.
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