Category Archives: Life as a Teacher in UTM

Gamifying Teaching & Learning

Hey there! Have you ever participated in an escape room activity with your friends? Remember that sense of thrill and excitement as you race to ‘escape’? Now imagine, as an educator or student, you get to de-stress by creating or playing a digital escape room. Sounds fun, right? Embedding games into teaching and learning (T&L) isn’t a new concept. As we advance further, we have more tools at our disposal to enhance this approach. I’m currently using Genially to create my own. Feel free to explore the above (p/s: don’t forgot to enable the sound for dramatic effect :D) and let me know what you think!

MAFSSH 2024

Held at the Renaissance Hotel on 20th August 2024, Majlis Apresiasi FSSH 2024 managed to gather members of FSSH to celebrate the excellence, dedication, and hard work of everyone involved. Themed demurely in black and gold, attendees came prepared with wit. I would like to personally thank Language Academy and FSSH for the recognition given to me and my colleagues. May we soar higher under His blessings.

Dilemma of a university teacher

Greetings fellow academicians! It’s been a while since I last penned down anything on this blog, but I’m back to share some thoughts and dilemmas with you since the major leap we had to make when Covid 19 hit in 2020.

When the government announced the Movement Control Order (MCO) beginning on 18 March 2020, no one had a clue as to how long it would last or how much it would impact people around the globe. The adaptation and transition to a different mode of teaching and learning were daunting, but as academicians, we’re always up for a challenge!

Workshops and clinics were conducted to help navigate online classes, and we explored a lot of tools, experienced funny moments, and exchanged ideas with fellow colleagues not only in UTM but from other institutions as well. We faced some drawbacks like muted mics, lagging connections, and idle responses, but we soldiered on.

Fast forward to 2023, and life has resumed back to how it used to be, with face-to-face classes. However, we kind of miss online classes. It’s a dilemma that we’re facing because we do enjoy face-to-face learning for its interactivity, but at the same time, online learning offers endless possibilities.

I, for one, am on the digital learning side, and I love exploring new tools, but I still need to acknowledge that some students cannot handle it after a long period of time. As for now, c’est la vie!

Coding and Compartmentalizing classes on Telegram

Penned on 19/10/2020

New semester begins on 18/10/2020 and this semester, I am responsible for 7 undergraduate general English courses namely:

1) UHLB 1112

2) UHLB 2122

3) ULAB 3162

Considering the mode of teaching and learning is still ODL, I decided to sort and organize my classes beforehand so no one (read: me) would be lost in the wilderness.

So, what did I do?

The moment I received the timetable with sections, I created Telegram groups, copied and shared (Control C, Control V) the links on E-Learning. I chose Telegram this time around because I love the extra functions such as folders and better usage capacity to share large materials. To ensure I am not confused which section is which, I coded them with images of different fruits just for the fun of it (Marvel characters? animals? colours? the option is unlimited). And then the waiting game began. Even until today I see new members entering the assigned fruits. Hopefully everyone will be accounted for by the end of Week 1.

Another reason why I prefer Telegram is because I can share information without waiting for everyone to enter and I do not have to re-share each time a new member joins. Such perks!

I hope it will help keep me and the students connected and engaged, inshaAllah.