# data[].attributes.body
Hello! I am Amir Ikhmal Ishraf bin Asri, just an ordinary person from a small town of Semenyih, Selangor.

Currently a student in University Putra Malaysia, taking the TESL course for 4 years.

# data[].attributes.body
This padlet was created to provide my reflection and insight for the course FCE3401: Educational Technology in UPM. I hope that this brief sharing can help you all gain a glimpse of this course, how it can be conducted, and maybe encourage you to join the course as well.

# data[].attributes.body
In my personal opinion, the course FCE3401 was one of the most interesting course along my 2 years experience studying in UPM. What made me say that? What were so interesting about this course anyway? Let us look through it!

# data[].attributes.body
The course name pretty much sum up the content, Educational Technology. Without a shred of doubt of course you would learn about technology! (Relating to education, of course). Many of the technological application that I learned in this course was a foreign items to me before ( I was not adept in technology too).  One major example is the usage of Augmented Reality in education . This will truly help me spice up my teaching in the future to better help my students.

(Pic: Augmented Reality experience made by me)

# data[].attributes.body
Another interesting thing about this course, you will learn in many ways!
The face to face classes were filled with activities from lectures to presentation. Not to mention,  the online classes during MCO. The standard ones were Google Meet, Zoom, Whatsapp. However this course teaches using various mode such as Loom, Mentimeter, and of course, the interactive JoinPD.

(Pic: Interactive slide from JoinPD)

# data[].attributes.body
Usually when we mention teaching & learning, what comes to mind are the chalk and talk, or lecture through powerpoint. However we should not allow ourselves to be limited to only those!  This course taught me that teaching can be more! I found it interesting how the latest media & technology can actually be integrated into education (loom, AR, JoinPD). Not to mention that lesson should not be one way but instead interactive, like the case in which gamification can be used to its upmost potential. Truly widen the horizon on teaching & learning process.

(Pic: Loom slide on gamification)

# data[].attributes.body
This course apply an extensive usage of rubrics. To my understanding, rubric is a set of instructions that guide a person into completing a task. It also acts as a standard for the task to be measured on.

# data[].attributes.body
As students, rubrics offer up many benefits (especially for assignments *sobs).

- As a guide. Rubrics mostly outline what should be in a task, whether directly or indirectly. Referring to it, students such as myself can see what are required, what to do, what to not do. In short, I can see what are expected from me. It is a far clearer guide and help the completion of a task.

-Acts as standard. Especially for analytical-type rubrics. Analytical rubrics provide a scale from the lowest to the best. Thus, I can observe the progression of my task and compare it to the rubrics to see what standard (good, best)  my works belong to. After that, I can improve it accordingly.

-Help self assessment. As stated before, rubrics provide a scale of standards. Thus, I can assess my performance after I am graded. The strengths and weaknesses in my works can be analysed and I can better understand myself and how I do my assigned works.

# data[].attributes.body
Of course rubrics is not just rainbow and sunshine. There are disadvantages for students such as myself as well.

- Can cause stress. Rubrics provide standards to be achieved. Sometimes these standards can be hard to achieve, but since it is in the rubrics, students felt compelled to follow. This can cause high level of stress as students tend to force themselves to comply to the rubrics to the letter.

-Limit the scope of thoughts. Rubrics provided what needed to be in a task. This can help students greatly. However, this also limit students strictly to that. Students may lose initiative to explore more on the task, losing aspects of creativity and individuality in the pro cess. Students' minds are only limited to provide what is required of them in the rubrics.

# data[].attributes.body
During my time taking this course,  the Covid 19 pandemic was ravaging the world. Thus most classes were online and rubrics were needed more than ever. In my experience, rubrics were really relevant, especially in this kind of situation.

-Provide clarity. In times where we could not meet face to face with lecturers or friends, clarity is of utmost priority. One wrong step in managing classes can lead to a chain of misunderstandings. Rubrics help to prevent that by clearly outlining requirement for a task.

- As quality control. Our lecturer, Dr Mas Nida provided us with analytical rubrics, providing gists of assessments for the tasks. Thus, we can refer to the rubrics and attempt to achieve the best standard according to the rubrics.

# data[].attributes.body
On the year 2020, the whole world was plagued with the Covid 19 pandemic. In terms of education, we were forced to stay at home and mostly attend classes online.

At first, it was worrying as there were a lot of uncertainties. Though not long after the initial unrest, classes resumed albeit online.

I think my experience learning FCE3410 online was mostly pleasant. Dr Mas Nida made sure to diversify the mode and method of the class so it were never dull here. Also, the timing is quite flexible especially with the usage of Loom as our main mode of lecture. We did not to attend synchronously but rather attended according to our own pace.

It was truly different, an experience I think most did not even anticipate. Despite that, I don not think it hindered the progress of learning much as everyone cooperated to adapt to this unexpected circumstances.

# data[].attributes.body
As with most things, every coin has two sides. Although I said, learning was not hindered (I did put a 'much' at the end there), challenges existed. Let us see what they are...

-Adapt. This was mainly a challenge in the initial stage of online learning as I was not used to online platform such as Google Meet and the likes. First time joining online class, it was quite nervewracking. "What do I press?", "Is the attendance taken?", "Is the session recorded?". These questions whirl in my mind. It took quite a while, a few online session (across many classes aside from FCE3401 too) for me to finally settle down with all the online classes progress.

-Internet connection. Ahhhh~ this was one of the biggest challenge and I am sure many will agree. At first, my internet connection was quite bad. I had to prepare early if I wanted the connection to be stable. For example, if the class starts at 9am, I have to switch on my internet at 8.30am. There was also one time my connection was so bad, I could not listen to most part of the lecture (had to ask my friends afterward..). I did fixed the problem later on-by changing my Internet service provider (it was right about time!)

# data[].attributes.body
Yeah, you saw that right. We did a class through Whatsapp too! It was for a class on Dale's Cone of Experience. At first I was worried. Through Whatsapp, the session might be chaotic as texts from 49-ish people would flood the chat, blurring the actual significant points.

However, I think Dr Mas Nida was smart in handling that. We were instructed not too say anything until instructed. She also provided some time for us to settle down. As an effect, she can provide further instructions without interruption!

Also, the activity was interactive so it was fun! Dr also illustrated the actual effect of Dale's Cone of Experience instead of just explaining it, which I think was clever.

# data[].attributes.body
That was the gist of experience and my expereince in the FCE3401 course. I hope it helped those who read through this in any way possible. (While for Dr Masnida I hope this achieved your expectations of me).

That is all, for now. If there is another opportunity, you might see me here again, Insyaallah. Bye-bye!