Sem 1 Reflections
A record of my experiences and reflections during first semester
Falsafah dan Isu Semasa merupakan subjek umum yang saya pelajari pada semester pertama di Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Kod kursus ialah UHIS1022-77 dan subjek ini telah disampaikan oleh pensyarah yang bernama Dr. Mohd Farhan Md Ariffin. Beliau telah mengajar serta menyampaikan sebanyak 8 topik dan ilmu berkaitan dengan falsafah.
Antara perkara yang saya telah pelajari ialah pengenalan terhadap falsafah, iaitu erti falsafah dan ahli-ahli falaisuf serta sumbangan pemikiran mereka. Falsafah merupakan cabang ilmu yang berkait dengan pemikiran, cintakan pada hikmah atau kebijaksanaan. Hal ini dapat membentuk individu kearah berfikiran dengan lebih matang dan terbuka. Beberapa falaisuf yang diperkenalkan seperti Ibnu Sina, Aristotle dan Plato adalah bagi membincangkan mengenai pandangan mereka.
Selain itu, perbincangan mengenai Falsafah Pendidikan Negara dan Rukun Negara telah memberikan impak kepada diri saya sebagai rakyat Malaysia. Saya telah diterangkan mengenai setiap hikmah yang terdapat dalam FPN dan bagaimana ia dapat membantu negara kita mempunyai kebahagian negara yang lebih bagus. Hal ini kerana sekiranya setiap rakyat mengamalkan perkara di dalam FPN dan Rukun Negara, sudah pasti ia mampu membentuk masyarakat yang berilmu dan memajukan negara kerana telah melahirkan individu-individu yang bijak dan berpengetahuan luas.
Di samping itu, saya juga mula menyedari dan berusaha untuk meningkatkan potensi diri setelah mempelajari mengenai psikologi dan sosiologi. Terdapat empat potensi insan yang akan wewujudkan keseimbangan diri iaitu Jasmani, Emosi, Rohani dan Intelek. Apabila seseorang itu menerapkan keempat-empat elemen tersebut, ia akan bersifat holistic dan menyeluruh serta mengakibatkan kehidupannya lebih baik. Jasmani menumpukan kepada kesihatan fizikal, emosi merupakan ciri perasaan seseorang sama ada kuat atau lemah, rohani adalah aspek dalaman dan kepercayaan seseorang, dan Intelek merupakan daya pemikiran dan ilmu yang diperoleh dalam dirinya. Saya akan berusaha untuk mengembangkan potensi diri dengan membuat penambahbaikan dalam aspek-aspek tersebut.
Seterusnya, saya terdedah kepada pelbagai ideologi yang terdapat di Malaysia agar tidak mudah terpedaya dengan ideologi yang buruk. Antara ideologi yang saya ketahui ialah feminisme, seksisme, nasionalisme, sosialisme dan hendonisme. Kumpulan saya telah melakukan kajian hedonisme bagi tugasan kumpulan. Hal ini telah membuatkan saya lebih memahami isu gejala hedonism yang semakin meningkat di negara kita. Hedonisme ini merupakan kepercayaan bahawa dunia ini bersifat sementara dan hanya melakukan perkara yang seronok sahaja tanpa memikirkan kesan daripada kelakuan mereka.
Akhir sekali, Saya telah mengetahui dengan lebih mendalam mengenai dekolonisasi, kolonisasi dan pasca dekolonisasi. Saya telah menghadiri webinar yang disambaikan oleh Prof. Dr. Kamaruzaman bin Yussof dan Dr. Nasruddin bin Yunos. Mereka telah menyampaikan kefahaman mengenai dekolonisasi dengan jelas dan juga persiapan mental yang perlu dilakukan untuk membebaskan diri daripada pemikiran ketika kolonisasi. Saya mula untuk tidak mudah terpengaruh dengan budaya barat agar identity negara Malaysia masih terjaga untuk generasi akan dating.
Kesimpulannya, matapelajaran ini telah memperluaskan ilmu saya mengenai isu-isu yang sedang berlaku serta peka dengan persekitaran. Saya juga akan menerapkan ilmu pengetahuan ini dalam membentuk jati diri saya agar menjadi pelajar dan manusia yang berfalsafah.
Penghayatan Etika dan Peradaban merupakan subjek umum yang saya pelajari pada semester pertama di Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Kod kursus ialah UHMS1128-33 dan subjek ini telah disampaikan oleh pensyarah yang bernama Dr. Hashim Fauzy. Beliau telah mengajar serta menyampaikan sebanyak 9 topik dan ilmu berkaitan dengan etika dan peradaban.
Dalam kursus ini, saya telah mempelajari mengenai kepentingan etika dan peradaban yang seharusnya dimiliki oleh setiap individu. Hal ini kerana, rakyat yang beretika tinggi mampu membentuk kemajuan negara kerana ia akan memupukkan perpaduan sesama kaum walaupun berbilang bangsa, agama dan kaum. Perbezaan bukanlah bererti halangan kepada perpaduan kaum yang erat. Perpaduan kaum yang erat dapat membina kepercayaan, toleransi serta kesefahaman dalam melaksanakan suatu kerja harian. Oleh itu, saya percaya bahawa Pendidikan kursus ini sewajarnya dipraktikan dalam kehidupan seharian dan bukan sahaja mengetahui ilmu tetapi tidak mengamalkannya.
Selain itu, saya juga telah mempelajari serba sedikit sejarah mengenai dengan kewujudan etika dan peradaban. Setiap negara mempunyai panduan etika dan peradabn mereka kerana definisi etika itu adalah subjektif mengikut kepada kepercayaan serta pegangan suatu masyarakat. Saya telah mengetahui beberapa perbandingan etika dalam tamadun melayu, Islam, China, India dan Barat. Hal ini telah membuatkan saya berfikiran lebih terbuka serta memahami bagaimana boleh terhasilnya suatu peradaban dan etika yang dibawa untuk memajukan tamadun tersebut. Sejarah mengenai latar belakang etika di Malaysia juga telah membentuk saya untuk memahami bagaimana perlembagaan Malaysia terbentuk bagi mengekalkan Malaysia sebagai negara yang aman, makmur dan harmoni.
Setelah mempelajari etika dan peradaban, saya sepatutnya mengamalkan serta mempraktik diri sendiri untuk menjadi seorang yang lebih beretika dalam melaksanakan kehidupan seharian saya. Antara perkara yang telah saya praktikan ialah Ketika melakukan tugasan berkumpulan untuk menyiapkan secara berkumpulan. Walaupun aktiviti tersebut terpaksa dijalankan hanya atas talian, saya mampu menjaga etika saya setelah mempelajari bab ketujuh kursus ini. Saya berinteraksi Bersama rakan sekumpulan saya dengan berhemah dan menjalankan tanggungjawab saya atas tugas yang telah diagihkan oleh wakil kumpulan. Oleh itu, saya Berjaya menyelasaikan tugasan ini dengan bagus kerana setiap ahli kumpulan saya merupakan individu yang beretika. Terbuktilah bahawa etika mampu mengeratkan perpaduan sesama masyarakat dan kemajuan akan tercapai kerana tidak berlakunya sikap-sikap yang kurang mulia.
Saya juga mengamalkan tingkah laku yang baik dalam kehidupan seharian saya seperti tidak menyinggung perasaan rakan saya tanpa mengira kaum, bangsa dan kepercayaan. Saya boleh berinteraksi sesame rakan sekelas saya yang terdiri daripada berbilang kaum serta mereka yang bukan warganegara Malaysia. Walaupun terdapat perbezaan daripada luaran, saya mampu menjalinkan hubungan yang baik kerana saya mempunyai adab dan menjaga tutur kata. Oleh yang demikian, saya amat bersyukur kerana kursus ini telah membimbing saya untuk membentuk jati diri saya serta melahirkan pelajar yang pintar, berwiba dan berakhlak mulia.
Kesimpulannya, kursus ini telah memberikan ilmu yang bermanfaat dan berfaedah untuk dijadikan amalan seumur hidup. Ia telah berjaya membentuk individu yang bukan sahaja mempunyai pendidikan yang tinggi, malah berakhlak mulia dan sentiasa mengejarkan penambahkbaikan terhadap diri sendiri. Oleh itu, saya akan sentiasa mengamalkan ilmu ini agar saya dapat membawa kebaikan kepada diri, masyarakat dan negara.
Graduate Success Attributes is one of the general course that I took in this first semester. This course is under Cluster 2, which is a generic skills cluster that has a total of 7 topics to be learned, which are communication skills, thinking skills, scholarship, leadership and teamworking, adaptability, enterprising skills and global citizenship. The course code is UHMT1012-33 and my lecturer is Dr. Norhaida bt Mohd Suaib. The objectives of writing this report are to revisit all related topics learnt during this semester and to associate the skills or attributes towards graduate success.
Communication skill is the first topic in graduate success attributes because it is a fundamental skill that can lead people to success. When a person has low communication skill, they will have a tough time to learn other important skills as they have problems in sending their message to others and receiving message from others, hence miscommunication and misunderstanding commonly happens. When I begin my first semester as an undergraduate student at the University of Technology Malaysia, I have a few challenges in developing my communication skills in written forms, as the class conducted fully online this semester. The written communication channel is more common to use instead of oral communication as most of my class conducted asynchronously. If there is any confusion or need more elaboration of the topics that I learned in class, I have to write my problems from class groups, such as Telegram group, Whatsapp group and e-Learning forum. After learning about ways to improve communication skill, I begin to implement the knowledge on daily basis. Now, it is easier to communicate with my peers and lecturers when I have something to talk about as I am getting better in sending my messages. I also understand that certain words that can spark urgency are not recommended in writing, as they can feel the tension from the message. This has helped me in my studies and learning process as I can discuss with my friends to understand and solve problems and difficult questions after class. Listening is the most time spent in my class time, either synchronous or asynchronous. It is very important to focus on the speaker and understand what is the content that they have given. Some of the things I did when listening to others is to keep an open mind, to not interrupt the speaker and do not ask excessive questions. Listening has greatly helped me in understanding the materials and content explained by the lecturers, so I could perform better in quizzes, tests, assignments and final examination. This is a lifelong skill that I need to continuously learn and improve over time as it is very beneficial in my future career and life.
Leadership and teamworking skills are the most applied skills for me throughout this semester. All of my subjects require formation group and team to work on a project or assignments. This is to ensure that we could practice more on the working experience since working environments work in an organization in teams of people that are assigned with different tasks. Leadership is a process whereby an individual influence a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. Leaders are different from managers; managers are more focused on managing the people in the organization while leaders inspire people to achieve the desired outcome of a project. With good leadership, the person can lead a group of people efficiently and effectively to finish a heavy task. Teamworking is the combined action and works within a group of people to accomplish. A leader usually in charge of a group to develop good team working and distribute tasks equally, so the work can be finished in time with great quality. For graduate success attributes subject, my section required to form a group of 9 people to work on assignments and a final group project. Even when the class conducted virtually, we still managed to gather with my teammates after forming a group and decide who is a leader. We take a democratic approach by using voting system with google forms. After that, we divide into 3 subgroups and respective assignments to work on. Within the main group, it is more of Laissez-faire approaches, as the leader is fine with whatever the outcome of the subgroups, but will occasionally remind the due date. However, within my subgroup, we take more of democratic approaches and work together to finish assignment 3. I am grateful that all of my members give full cooperation and responsible for their tasks. These skills are helping me and my team members on finishing all the related coursework for this subject. It also helps me to be more aware of time management of work and teamworking definitely saves a lot of everyone’s time when working on a big project.
The final skill that I want to discuss is adaptability. Adaptability skill is the individual’s capability of changing behaviour according to the environments, requirements and situations. There are 3 dimensions of adaptability; intrapersonal, interpersonal and technology. Intrapersonal adaptability is the ability to change within ourselves. Intrapersonal adaptability is more focused on the external environment that we have to change. For example, Covid-19 pandemic has affected many organizations and workers to adapt to the situation and required to work from home to ensures that their health is protected from the infectious virus. This skill set has become more prominent and relevant due to the current situation. It is not only affecting the students but also all people around the world. We have to adapt to the new situation and be more concerns about our environment. As a student currently learning from home, I have to adapt to the situation and learn virtually for a whole semester. Even though there are some issues at the beginning, such as unreadiness of technology equipment, the slow internet speed and having to increase screen time and affecting my eyesight, I now have managed my problems and currently adapt with using the technologies. I am also adapting my intrapersonal skills by keeping in touch with my mental and physical health. Being quarantine in my own house for almost a year, it does affects my overall wellbeing as I have fewer people to interact and physically moving less. I realized that I need to adapt quickly and build a new lifestyle to cope with my problems, so I took the initiative to call with close friends and doing some exercises such as aerobics. This has resulted in a drastic improvement in my overall mood and I am now capable of being productive and finish all the works.
This subject has taught me the skills and attributes to become a successful graduate. All of the topics that I learned is very informative, helpful and applicable to everyday life. The most impactful skills for me are communication skills, leadership and thinking skills, and adaptability skills. It gives me a lifelong learning lesson and I will definitely continue to develop these 7 skills even after I graduated from my university.
Technology and Information Systems is the subject that I took on my first semester as an undergraduate student majoring in computer science. The course code is SECP1513-09 and my lecturer, Dr. Sarina Binti Sulaiman has covered all 13 topics in addition of learning Azure Fundamentals on the class hour.
My goals regarding my program are to develop a useful software in future and to be prepared for my future work life by learning all the necessary knowledge, such as programming skills, soft skills, teamworking skills and technology information systems. This is the perfect time to enhance my knowledge in computer science, especially in coding. Currently, I am learning the coding fundamentals and concepts of C++ language, but I will learn extra languages such as Python and Kotlin because it is good to have exposure in various programming languages. I hope that I will land into a good career spot in the IT industry.
My plans on improving my potential in the industry are to pursue a lifelong learning experience and to be more involved in extracurricular activities. Self-learning is a very important attitude to have as the IT industry is an ever-growing industry and the advancement of technology keeps on growing. If I did not have the initiative to self learn, I might be outdated and left out from the necessary skill sets that employers look for. There are various ways to learn new skills as the Internet has made it more accessible to sharing content and information, such as Youtube, LeetCode and SkillShare. The action I am currently taking is solving coding problems on HackerRank, a platform that programmers share and solve coding problems. Being more involved in extracurricular activities also the action that I believe can help me improve my potential. Competitions help a person to gain experiences, teamworking skills, critical thinking and applying technical knowledge into practical use. Since the pandemic issue has made extracurricular activities to be conducted online, I take the alternative to just do simple programming projects such as developing a mobile application.