District Information Officers Workshop 2009

Last Friday, 20 February 2009, I was invited to talk to about 40 District Information Officers from all districts throughout Sarawak. Schedules in the program, I was to give a kind of motivational talk to them. However lately, this sort of talk, especially to government civil service is a little bit a sensitive topic. Because, some may ponder; "Am I not motivated enough all these while?" Nevertheless, I found that they were all motivated, experienced and visionary. This was indicated by some responses they made during the interaction.

Centrally themed 'job satisfaction and building a career path to success', I began by asking what made them satisfied with their present job, a point I had always made when addressing the civil service. The notion that, satisfaction has always been contributed by such factors as pay, promotion, supervision, colleagues and workplace need reviewing. They may give some form of satisfaction but they may not be continuously motivating and satisfying to most people. In Malaysian civil service context, such factors continuous professional development and the nature of the 'work' one is attached to, contribute to long-term satisfaction.

I concluded professional satisfaction contributes to continuous motivation among most civil service officers. The implication is that employers need to constantly provide opportunities to employees to develop themselves.

Dialog Pendidikan Borneo II

Sarawak is planning to host the second Borneo Education Dialogue II 27 - 30 July 2009. A steering committee was formed and had its meeting in Santubong Resort 20-21 February 2009. The theme will revolve around best practices in education and five sub themes incorporating curriculum, management and leadership, teacher training have also been identified.

Chairing the steering committee is Pengiran Merali bin Pengiran Mohemed who is also the education Department Academic Sector head.

Menunggu pertemuan Obama dan Osama

Dibezakan oleh dua huruf 'b' dan 's', dua jejaka amat popular di abad ini amat dinanti pertemuan mereka, lebih-lebih lagi setelah Presiden Barack Hussein Obama memulakan tugas kepresidenannya untuk empat tahun. Apakan wujud peluang pertemuan sedemikian? Baik apa juga situasi yang menyelubungi pertemuan itu nanti, yang pasti ia dinantikan oleh seluruh dunia khususnya yang ingin melihat perubahan dalam order baru dunia selepas Obama berada ditahta pemerintahan Amerika Syarikat.

Menunggu pertemuan Obama dan Osama

Dibezakan oleh dua huruf 'b' dan 's', dua jejaka amat popular di abad ini amat dinanti pertemuan mereka, lebih-lebih lagi setelah Presiden Barack Hussein Obama memulakan tugas kepresidenannya untuk empat tahun

Experiential learning: understanding adult learners..

Last Saturday, 10 January 2009, I had the opportunity talking to about 70 teachers and instructors of International College of Advanced Technology Sarawak (ICATS) as part of their professional development program. Our six-hour interaction brought us to an understanding about teaching, learning and trying our best to understand what those meant in terms of adult learners.

I began by discussing 'What is teaching?' a preamble session to my second and third modular training sessions, viz-a-viz, "Reflection on our teaching" and "Pedagogy Vs Andragogy". Teachers at private colleges and institutions in Malaysia are of diversified background in terms of academic and professional qualification backgrounds. So the professional development so organised by ICATS was not only relevant but ought to be taken heed of by other institutions because teachers, wherever they serve, need constant professional staff development activities so that they keep abreast with the latest development in the profession of teaching.

In our Malaysian context, teaching is an open profession. However the competency being a professional teachers ought to come along with skill and professional training. Being a trained teacher in government schools in Malaysia, one is recognised as qualified or licenced to teach. Those who are not, are recognised as untrained, temporary teacher; an administrative definition of it.

Learning through experience requires a substantive amount of experience or at least initial exposure to the kind of acquired experience. Several notions to it links to how adult people learn. In teaching terminology 'andragogy' is used and it assumes that adult learn in the following context:

☻ Adults need to know why they need to learn something;

☻ Adults need to learn experientially;

☻ Adults approach learning as problem-solving;

☻ Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value.

The issue teachers need to ponder upon is: when pedagogy or andragogy is used when teaching post secondary students (participants)? How definitive is our approach to teaching a varied background of participants especially when they are of different age groups.

Effective delivery of teaching requires a teacher and instructor alike to ensure that learning does occur. How they learn is to be determined by themselves. Facilitation by both teachers or instructors must observe their styles of learning. Methodologies of teaching ought to be diversified taking into consideration several factors: learners, subject matter, time and space made available.

Palestin and Israel... Long lesson on humanity yet to be learnt

Has mankind ever forgotten the history of mankind? The history of mankind is a history of humanity , beginning with the existence of Adam and later Eve (Hawa). Those who forgot this are those who have studied or read about it. But worst is the category of people who does not even know about it.

People talk, discuss and write about a confused state of mind from Darwin's Theory of Evolution but not so many would discuss at length the origin of mankind in a perspective accepted by values close to all mankind. Let us ponder on the existence (the beginning) of Adam and later Eve (Hawa). How the couple later being blessed by the Al mighty God, Allah SWT generated mankind.

Reading the history and actual story from whatever versions of recount, will conclusively suggest that we as the present inhabitants of this beautiful planet called Earth are in actual fact came from the same source that is Adam and Eve (Hawa). We are governed by one source of power, the Almighty God, Allah SWT.

What have transformed the differences are for us all to study and study and study until there is wisdom that God will give us all. Only then will we as mankind understand how to live together, understand each other well and accept whatever differences as God given as God would like all mankind to live peacefully in this world.

May peace be created in the middle east.

The 4th.Inter Universities Conference Kalimatan 2008

Alhamdulillah, saya berkesempatan ikut serta dalam Konferensi Universiti Se Borneo-Kaimantan Kali Ke 4 yang telah berlangsung 24-25 Jun yang lalu di Kota Samarinda, Kalimantan Timur. Kali ini rombongan dari Sarawak agak ramai juga yang terdiri daripada pensyarah UNIMAS dan UiTM. Ada juga dari UiTM Sabah, UTM Johor dan UM Kuala Lumpur.

Saya sempat membentang sebuah kertas kerja bertajuk "Memahami isu keciciran pelajar sekolah di Sarawak" hasil penelitian yang telah saya jalankan 2001-2002 dan 2003-2005. Kertas konsep dalam isu keciciran pelajar di Sarawak pernah saya, Dr. Haji Julaihi Hj Bujang (sekarang Pengarah Pendidikan Sarawak) dan Dr. Sluhi Lamat hasilkan pada 2001 sewaktu Bengkel Keciciran Pelajar anjuran SDI dan telah dibentangkan oleh Dr Hj Julaihi Hji Bujang.














Pengalaman membentang Kertas Kerja pada seminar antara bangsa amat menyeronokkan lebih-lebih lagi apabila banyak perkongsian idea berlaku di kalangan pembentang atau pemakalah (istilah di Indonesia yang mula diterima pakai di Malasyia.

Konferensi kali ini adalah lebih meriah daripada siri yang ketiga kerana terdapat 142 kertas kerja telah diterima untuk pembentangan. Gedung Bundar, Fakulti Kehutanan Universiti Mulwarman Samarinda menjadi tumpuan warga pendidik dan cendikiawan majoritinya dari pusat pengajian tinggi seluruh Borneo membincangkan tema "Transformasi Sosial Masyarakat Pedesaan dan Pesisir Borneo Kalimantan; isu-isunya" .

Jaringan kerja di kalangan pusat pengajian di Borneo semakin menggalakkan bermula dengan siri Dialog Borneo kerjasma Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, dan Seminar Borneo Research Council. Sesungguhnya jaringan tersebut wajar diteruskan dan dipertingkatkan kerana ruang kerjasama demikian begitu terserlah di kalangan masyarakat berbudaya serupa ini malah daripada komen dan pandangan-pandangan di kalangan cendikiawak yang ikut serta dalam konferensi dan dialog Borneo yang pernah saya hadiri, betapa mereka melihat para cendikiawan di Borneo ini wajar bergerak memperhebatkan lagi kegiatan seBorneo pada masa akan datang.

Bagi Sarawak, kebanggaan kita ialah kerana ketiga-tiga aktiviti tersebut adalah cetusan dari Kuching; maka sudah tibanya inisiatif serupa ditapilkan oleh Pontianak, Palangkaraya, Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Kota Kinabalu dan Bandar Seri Begawan- tujuh kota besar dan tidak kurang ilmuannya di pulau ketiga besarnya di dunia itu.

Daripada para sahabat di Jabatan Pendidikan Sarawak, saya difahamkan bahawa ada usaha untuk mengadakan Dialog Pendidikan Borneo kali kedua nanti dengan penglibatan cendikiawan dari Kalimantan, khususnya Kalimantan Barat.

Syabas dan tahniah saya ucapkan sekiranya ia benar dan akan menjadi realiti. Pertemuan seumpama itu nanti akan memperkayakan lagi ruang pemikiran seBorneo para cendikiawan dan sudahpasti ketersebarannya akan jauh lebih meluas.
Salam.

Rakaman kenang-kenangan bersama Prof. Dr. Ir. Syafie serta mahasiswa Universitas Mulawarman.

NOTA:
Gambar 1, Prof. Abdul Halim Ali sedang membentangkan kertas kerja bertajuk:

"Transformasi Sosial Masyarakat Pedesaan dan Pesisir Borneo Kalimantan; isu-isunya" .

Gambar 2. Blogger sedang membentangkan kertas kerja "Memahami isu pelajar sekolah di Sarawak".
Gambar 3. Dari Kiri, Dr. Nelson (UNIMAS), Tan Sri Prof. Dr. Mohd. Taha Arif dan blogger sedang mengikuti pembentangan Prof. Abdul Halim Ali.