Islamic Education and Muslim Educator #Day 7

Assalamualaikum!

Dear readers,

class activity for today is so much related to our previous update which is about Islamic Education. Our instructor, Dr. Lihanna added the roles of Muslim Educator which are:

• Mursyid: leading/showing the way
• Murabbi: nurturing
• Mudarris: teaching (facts)
• Mu'alim: developing thinkers
• Muaddib: role model for cultured person vis-a-vis relationship with Allah.

(Source: Al-Attas, 1980)

There are some Q & A session with our instructor regarding the articles that we have mentioned in previous update. And our instructor provide some questions to evaluate our understanding of this Islamic Education topic. 

Oh the best part for today is our instructor mentioned about our team project work! Finally! This is what we waiting for since the very beginning of the semester. Yeay! So, the project is about COMMUNITY EDUCATOR. 

1. We need to come up with a programme that is in line with the principles of Islamic Education.
2. We need to identify a community that we would like to work in.
3. We need to plan strategies and modules.
4. Each of us need to complete at least 10 contact hours as educator.
5. We need to assess the effectiveness of our programme and our teaching.
6. We need to do a report.

Hmph. Do you think we can do it? Well, wait and see what we can do for our programme. May Allah help us, makes everything easy for us, and makes our programme run smoothly. Allahumma Amiin Ya Rabbal 'Alamiin! Pray for us :')

Wait for our team project work updates okay! Fi amanillah :)

Discussion. #Day 6

Assalamualaikum!

Dear readers,

our instructor, Dr. Lihanna did not come to class today for certain reasons. But she already asked us to sit in expert group (refer to previous update) and make some discussions regarding the articles that we got. Then, back to our former group and explained to the group members what have been discussed.

Let's highlight on what we (BnW group) had discussed in general. To make it clear, let we list which articles belong to whom (who expert on that article):

• The Perception and Method in Teaching and Learning Islamic Education (Hafizah)
• The Tarbiyah Project: A Renewed Vision of Islamic Education (Hannan)
• A New Approach in Islamic Education: Mosque Based Teaching and Learning (Shazreen)
• Teaching Islam: A Look Inside an Islamic Preschool in Malaysia (Aizat)
• Towards the Development of a Murabbi (Acan)
• The Integrated Islamic Education: Principles and Needs for Thematic Approaches (Syazana)

Oh unfortunately, we could only discussed four articles only because of the time.

Generally, 

Hafizah's article explained about the perception and the method in teaching Islamic education from the African teachers’opinion. The article also explained about pedagogical modification of teaching methods of Islamic religious teachers in West Africa.The respondent agreed that the implementation of teaching the Islamic education had improved in West African education systems. 

Shazreen's article discussed about how Islamic Education very effective in mosque based teaching compared to school. The learning performance of students shown clear distinction in the study where mosque contribute to great achievement of students in Islamic Education subject. The discussion focuses on the role of mosques in Islamic Education in Malaysia and mosque based teaching and learning module. Therefore, the implementation of Islamic Education should be taken by collaboration between schools, mosque and Muslim communities, not school alone.

Aizat's article highlighted on Islamic preschool in Malaysia. The article provide some description of activities and schooling experience of children in Islamic preschool to educate other people who might not having in depth knowledge of what and how the children learns with regards to religious curriculum. In our understanding, there are some comparison in this Islamic preschool daily activities which common school does not have. 

Syazana's article studied about why Islamic Education is really important to be implemented. The article discussed what education really means in Islam and what are the aims of and objectives of Islamic Education. There are twelve principles of Islamic Education which includes Oneness of Allah, Fardhu 'Ain & Fardhu Kifayah, religious obligatory (act of worship), education is life-time process, important elements of human body (mind & 'aql), equal education for society's members, holistic Islamic foundation and perspective, combination of knowledge of science and faith in Allah, dealing with individuals personality, akhlak & virtue, various area of subject specialization that have been highlighted in Quran, and the research (exploration, experimentation, and invention). 

So, Islamic Education is seriously important and need to be applied in each level of education, isn't it? In our point of view, we need Islamic Education so that our life and our knowledge are in line with Quran, Sunnah, and Islamic basic principles so that what we really gain is not rewards or benefits us in this temporary world only, but for our eternal life in Hereafter too. InsyaAllah.

What do you think of Islamic Education? Have some opinion? Don't hesitate to leave comments! 

We are still in the beginning of the semester. So many things to update! Keep us on track okay? Fi amanillah :)

Jigsaw Method. #Day 5

Assalamualaikum!

Dear readers,

what do you understands about our post title today? JIGSAW METHOD. Generally, Jigsaw Method is a cooperative learning technique. Truth to be told, at first, we also do not even know what jigsaw method is all about. But, proudly, our instructor, Dr. Lihanna had chose our group to do the demonstration. Yeay! And proudly too, we had shown our blur and awkward facial expression. Haha us! Okay cut the crap.

The demonstration was like this, our instructor randomly gave each of us six different articles. And what we need to do is to become an expert for the articles that we have got and explained it to group members. But surely, we are not able to master the article by ourselves alone in the time given. And we cannot discuss with each other since all of us got six different articles with different contents and information. So what to do?

The thing is we need to form new groups for each article and scan through the article together, then become an expert for an article. We split into six new groups according to the number of the articles. In this new group (expert group), we need to discuss what the article is all about. We need to fully understands the article because later we will back to our former group and combine the information that we have got with other members. Just like playing a jigsaw puzzle. Every part is important, so everyone needs to be responsible.

These are the title of six articles that we are talking about:

• The Perception and Method in Teaching and Learning Islamic Education
• The Tarbiyah Project: A Renewed Vision of Islamic Education
• A New Approach in Islamic Education: Mosque Based Teaching and Learning
• Teaching Islam: A Look Inside an Islamic Preschool in Malaysia
• Towards the Development of a Murabbi
• The Integrated Islamic Education: Principles and Needs for Thematic Approaches

Basically, all articles are about Islamic Education. We have fully used the time to understands the article until the class end. So, the discussion of the articles would be in the next class! What else? Wait for our updates about those articles! Fi amanillah :)

More information about Jigsaw Method? Click HERE.

Articles Review.

Assalamualaikum!

Dear readers,
as we promised in previous update, these are three articles that we have reviewed. Oh, our instructor, Dr. Lihanna assigned us to do some short write up for each article. Enjoy your reading!


Article Review #1: Descriptive Study

Get the article HERE.

Article by Bulger, Mohr and Walls (2002) has discussed about the use of four aces of effective teaching as a professional instructional practice. The four aces highlighted the four aces which are outcome, clarity, enthusiasm, and engagement as a practice in higher education. The paper also illustrated and describe of the four aces of effective teaching as a concept to reflect the teacher practice and also gain the ability of pedagogical skill. This article shown that by following the Aces method, it will make the teacher become more effective and enhance student learning. Aces method can be applied to MRSM and Arabic issues.

Article Review #2: Correlational Study

Get the article HERE.

A study was conducted by Schlesser (2004) which the aim of his study is to document middle school students’ grade point average (GPA) relative to their participation in school sponsored activities. ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between gender, extracurricular participation and their interaction with GPA. The finding of this research was there is significantly higher GPA for students who participate in extracurricular activities than those who do not participate. Besides, there was positively associated with GPA both male and female students’ who participate activities in school. So, extracurricular activities can increase students' GPA and applied to MRSM issues.

Article Review #3: Experimental Study

Get the article HERE.

A study conducted by Ishtiaq Hussain (2005) in order to examine the effectiveness of direct method and traditional method of teaching English at secondary level. Direct method is teaching the foreign language without interference of mother tongue, meanwhile, traditional method is teaching the language word-to-word translation in mother tongue. There are four group designs in which two groups received experimental treatment (direct method) and the other two groups received control treatment (traditional method). The findings have shown that direct teaching method was more effective than traditional method with regards to students’ achievement. Teaching method in this article may help increase students' performance in Arabic.

Thank you for spending your time reading short write up for those articles! Highly appreciated. Stay tune with our next class activities updates! Fi amanillah :)

Scientific Research Approach. #Day 4

Assalamualaikum!

Dear readers,

as Psychology students, we cannot run away from Research Methodology since this subject are being applied in every each Psychology's subject. In Educational Psychology, research, training, and experiment are needed in order to have a good teaching method. Meaning, we need to do some research and experiment to compare and invent new methods in teaching. Then, this new methods are put into training and applying into each level of education. This is so much interesting!

So, what is our class activity for today? Come on. Keep on guessing :D

As usual, our instructor, Dr. Lihanna will give us tasks to work on. Today, she gave us two issues for us to come up with some suggestions. 

First issue is regarding ranking PMR 2011 of MRSM in Malaysia in which MRSM Tawau, MRSM Bentong and MRSM Muar were last third in the rank. The question is, how to raise their ranking among other MRSM? After doing some brainstorming, these are some of the results from our group discussion (of course, just random):

• select only best students to enter the school
• mentor and mentee programme for students and teachers
• upgrade teaching method
• upgrade school environment
• emphasize more on subjects with lower CGPA

Second issue is regarding performance of Sekolah Menengah Agama Al-Amin students in Arabic. Their performance in Arabic is so much worrying since they are students from religious school. The expectation is that their performance should be well in Arabic subject. But, what happens is the opposite. The question is, how to increase their performance in Arabic subject? After doing some brainstorming, these are some of the results from our group discussion (of course, just random):

• Intensive classes
• Weekly quizzes
• Arabic week and Arabic camp
• Provide free Arabic dictionary
• Paste Arabic vocabularies around the school

Back to our basic discussion, how to know that all the suggestions that we have mentioned above will work? The answer is simple, through RESEARCH. From research, we will have common sense and will leads to effective results. Okay, there are three types of research that we have learned which are:

1. Descriptive study - observation, measures, survey, interview
2. Correlational study - positive, negative, confound
3. Experimental study - dependent, independent, control, group

Class activity on this day really makes us feel like we are the real psychologists! Research research research.

Before the class end, our instructor had assigned us to find three articles related to the issues that have been discussed above. And each article must represents each type of research above. Reviewing articles is such an "interesting" activity (if you know what we mean). Hehe.

Keep calm and wait for our articles on future updates! Fi amanillah :)

What good teachers are like? #Day 3

Assalamualaikum!

Dear readers,

today class, our instructor Dr. Lihanna asked us to describe the criteria of being good, desirable, and preferable teachers. So, what criterion of such teachers that come up in your mind? We might have the same thoughts. Perhaps. Basically, these are some example of such criteria that we have listed during this class discussion. 

• listen to students' opinions
• patience and caring
• skillful and creative
• well-organized and professional
• motherly/fatherly
• kind, loving, generous, friendly
• supportive
• tolerance
• punctual
• have sense of humor

Know what? Mostly other groups come up with the same thoughts as well! It might be universal and common thought we guess. After that, our instructor asked each of us (personally) to softly think and imaging of any of our previous teachers who we love/favorite the most and being such a role model to us. And we need to list down the criteria of why he/she such a good teacher to us till become our role model. Since there are six of us, so there are six different teachers with lots of different criteria. But, our instructor asked us to take out some criteria that we have in common and added it to the list that we have mentioned above.

So, here are some addition to that,

• optimist
• active person
• inspiring
• strict
• have simple and fun teaching method

Well, all of the ideas are just random. Then, we need to classify all the criteria into these four categories:

• Personality
• Appearance
• Instructional
• Others

There we go, our final product!

The whole class have least criteria in terms of appearance. So, we concluded that students not really look at their teachers' appearance. Bear that in mind our dear teacher-to-be :D But Aizat keep telling us about how beautiful his ustazah (his teacher during his school time) is that change him to be a good boy. So, appearance may affect students in some aspects! 

Phewww! Such a hard brainstorming activity. Don't you think so? Well, not that hard actually. At least, this class activity had made us think what criteria or characteristics that a good teacher should have. And made us think how all of our previous and present teachers/lecturers have that strength in order to maintain be such a good teacher to us. Stop a minute, thank Allah and say Alhamdulillah for having teachers/lecturers like them and appreciate their struggle, guys. 

What we realized, being a teacher/lecturer is not about teaching a subject only but also being an educator to students. Oh plus, this class activity also might help or guide or train us about how to be a good teacher in future. Perhaps. Wait! Are we going to be a teacher in future? Or maybe one of us? Or maybe two of us? Or .. oh well, if Allah say so. Wallahu'alam :)

Before we end the class, our instructor had said that, if one day we become a teacher/lecturer (InsyaAllah), we are tend to imitate and reflect our favorite teacher's (or may we call our 'role model') characteristics. This may include their behavior, or maybe their style of teaching, or maybe their personality, or many other. Hence, it would be awesome then. Why? Because our favorite teacher/lecturer is obviously an awesome and the best teacher/lecturer ever! So we are going to be an awesome and best teachers/lecturers too! One day. InsyaAllah. Amiin amiin ya Rabbal 'Alamiin! Pray for us :)

**Oh our instructor had mentioned about Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (PBS) in our class. Do you guys know what PBS is all about? No worries. You can find it HERE.

Wait for another updates from us okay! Fi amanillah :)

Group formation. #Day 2

Assalamualaikum!

Dear readers,

our group was formed in a very much creative and interesting way. Our instructor, Dr. Lihanna, had tore papers with a picture on it into pieces and intermixed it in a bag. Then, she passed the bag to the whole class and each person had to take only one piece. Then, we need to find our group members through grafting pieces of the paper into a picture. Just like playing a puzzle. And the best thing is that everyone was like desperately finding their group members with their facial expression that so much blur and committed.

Guess what picture that our group got?

We got a picture of black and white horses. Yeay! But instead of put the name of horses, we just named our group BnW which means Black and White (the colour of the paper). Actually, we are lacking of ideas during that time since we are not really knows each other, so, nothing much to discuss about the name. Haha.

As mentioned in our previous update, our group consists of six members which five of us are very adorable girls (Hannan, Acan, Hafizah, Syazana, Shazreen) and our the one and only gentleman (Aizat).

In order to get to know each other well, our instructor constructed two class activities.

First activity involved our similarities and differences. We need to list down all the similarities that we share and differences among us. Unfortunately, list down the similarities that we share seems really hard and difficult because we do not really have that so much similarity. But differences? A LOT.

Second activity involved Statistics. We need to calculate the mean of each question that has been asked by our instructor. This activity really activate our brain since we need to be alert in calculating it and cooperate with each other. And our group managed to do it well. Yeay us! There is where our bond are getting stronger! Alhamdullilah.

So, long journey to go. Keep us on track. More interesting class activities will be updated soon! Fi amanillah :)

Beginning of our journey. #Day 1

Assalamualaikum!

Dear readers,

this blog is being administered by six International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) students which are:

• Aizat
• Acan
• Hannan
• Hafizah
• Syazana
• Shazreen

We are students from Department of Psychology and taking Educational Psychology subject this semester. Basically, the reason of the existence of this blog is because it is one of the requirement of this class. We have been assigned by our instructor, Dr. Lihanna, to update and give some reflection regarding our activities, progression, performances etc. in class and our team project work (which will be conducted soon). 

There is nothing much during #day 1 in our class since we are not in group yet. So, wait for our another updates for the group formation! Fi amanillah :)