My Progress(iveness =D)

Assalamualaikum wbh...

Okeh, tambah lagi satu assessment untuk academic writing skali, so the whole activities for next week are test and assessments. I hope I earn the best to enjoy the following week, insyaAllah. Aja aja hwighting!

What I've learnt so far. 

This first semester I've took (actually am still taking at the time of writing) Research Methodology and Academic Writing classes as the pre-requisite courses for my PhD program. After the completion of these courses with B grade we can then proceed with our research and writing process. Since I've planned to get this done in two years time insyaAllah, I have three more semesters to finish this journey. So up to this point I'm going to report on the progress I've made thus far.

Courses. 

Frankly speaking I had mix feeling when I was told that we have to sit for this two courses.
If I have to register under COB there are four courses to be taken altogether. As a student who have had her MSc thesis prepared by full research I thought I had a chance to be exempted as I already had the basic skills we are suppose to learn in the two courses. That would help me to focus on my research and thesis writing right away and I can get done with the PhD soonest possible. On the other hand if I join the class I'll be able to meet more people who are in the same boat as myself. I didn't have the chance in my Master's years. So when I wrote to the GSGSG Dean and she rejected the application for my exemption, I think God has planned for me to be in those classes in this semester and enjoy the journey. I did.

Research Method. 

I've picked Group B over other groups because I love morning classes. I cannot take the one on Sunday because I might be somewhere else on that day. When the coordinator told us the PhD students to change to other groups because the group is focusing on MSc students I went to A, only to be advised to return back to my former group because it is already too late to change group at that time without affecting our attendance mark. I'd just learnt that both groups (A and B) were designed for School of Computing students. What to do, I just love morning classes.

Guess what, we had mixed courses students there. Apart from myself, we had a number of PhD students too from IT and Communication areas. A number of Law students (MSc) were also studying in the same group. They are lecturers who had to teach classes on weekends and weekdays and that day (Monday) is the only day available for them. Our lecturer Dr. Azizah is of SoC. She had to cater to this multi-areas students of various levels as well. The first thing I learnt is cross-discipline. Of course it has its own pros and cons. Since I only learn international business for the past 6 years I enjoyed the exposure to other areas very well. My future might only consist of international business, so why not I enjoy this wide exposure while I still can. =)

Well, postgraduate classes are, for the lack of better words, postgraduate classes. You don't expect your lecturer to spoon-feed you with information. You are expected to get involved in the discussion in there. So there are give-and-take process. You learn from others, and others learn from you. I enjoyed doing that. Since I had the chance to attend one Group A class under Prof Zuli, I love the course right away. Prof Zuli is  a very strict lecturer who are taking her subject as a serious matter.  In her class I went like wow, after these years of trial and error in my research process I just learnt about this and that and why it was a failure and so on and so forth. I believe she is a very good professor indeed and bet that her students too would soon be good researchers. Dr. Azizah is like a person that you can share everything with. You'll feel comfortable talking to and discussing with her, like a pal (strictly for research purposes though).

In her classes I learnt to enjoy the research process. And digging and sharpening my teamwork skills working with international researchers (my group is comprised of two Nigerians, one is preparing for his PhD in Communication and a Yemenite students). Sir Ishola is a PhD student who had just finished with his research and would replace Dr. Azizah whenever she's not available to join us. In him I saw passion to teach and share in newly produced postgraduate researchers. I think I sometimes saw myself in his image. In a number of occasion we also had visiting scholars attending and lecturing in our class. One is Dr. Khadoum and the other is Prof Budi. The ultimate pleasure in PhD journey is the journey itself, not the end of it. I'm adapting to it. We are going to have an individual assessment next week. I hope I can learn a lot of myself from the assessment. After that we'll have to get done with our group's research proposal. I need to get that done before depart to Shah Alam on 21st night.

Academic Writing. 

There were only two groups available for the course. Both are conducted on the same day at the same time, so I had no problem choosing one. My criteria was to pick the one with least students so that we can have effective discussion in the class. When the class were running we had additional four tutors joining, so at the end the number of students were more or less the same in both groups. Dr. Shima is also a nice lady who happened to have a lot to share with us. As a postgraduate class, we were also expected to discuss a lot. At first it is awkward to be in the class when I already had been doing academic writing for the past three years, presenting and publishing my works around the world (kunun =D). But again we learn a lot from there. I learn to know myself better in the class. At the same time I had a piece of article (it is suppose to be my magnum opus of my point of life) edited by an English native editor. I'm learning a lot from this guy and hope to write an entry about the process later. As for this course, I am very thankful to be granted this writing skill and knowledge by God. I hope I can use them well for the benefit of my ummah, insyaAllah.

In this class we had more local than international students. Dr. Shima said this is not a common thing to happen in her class. I think it is the effect of government's push for IPT lecturers to obtain PhD to stay in service. Many of them thought that I'm the youngest in the class. I might be the smallest, but the youngest is a 23 years old lady doing her MSc by research, I think. Another lady is also 23 years old, doing her PhD right from her first degree. I wish her luck. I am three years older than them, by year count. We are going to have the second individual assessment also in the next week insyaAllah, followed by a final exam in the form of take home test for three weeks. I guess that would have to wait until I'm back from my trip.

Karate. 

Apart from academic courses I had the bravery to meet my sensei during his class on Saturday in March. I told him that I'll be happy to join again, to get my black belt. We didn't meet again until I appeared in full uniform at the end of April, when he told me that grading would be in 19th May, less than a month then. I didn't plan to have my Sho (First) dan yet, but he told me that this grading is special because we had the most number and someone from Japan is coming to assess us. I was thrilled upon hearing about it and agreed to join, provided if I can master all katas again, and learn the new two. I chose jion and empi. Bassadai and kankudai, I'll save for next grading insyaAllah. Alhamdulillah God grant me focus and energy to be able to master my old katas quite well, and acquire the two new katas convincingly. I enjoyed joining young fellows again, and looking forward to the prospect of having more than just First Dan in the future, if God grant me health and energy, insyaAllah. I pray that we'll all do well in our grading this 19th insyaAllah, and I can fly as a First Dan holder after that. If this is granted I have to thank many many people behind the success, firstly my Aikido sensei and sempais. I'll write an entry too to share about this too, insyaAllah.

Lots of writing already, had to stop and resume my works after prayer. =)