Online classes and I

Assalamualaikum

    It has been 5 months since my last update. Nothing has changed much except that I am now in the 6th semester of my degree. It has been 1 year and 3 months since I started online classes. I have shared my thoughts before on what I felt, if you are interested in reading that, you can click >here<. I went back to my home in Selangor in February, and now I am back here in Perlis. There are procedures that we have to follow to allow us to be here. My university gave us 2 choices by either doing a swab test or isolation. And I chose the swab test as I want to make sure that I really have not caught any virus. Thankfully, the test was negative.

Today I want to share with you how I take my notes during online classes. I know most students don't really take notes as they rely on the lecture's notes, but taking my own notes has been the most effective. You can click on the pictures to see them in better resolution.

1. During class.

            There are 2 ways on how I take notes during class.

            i) If my lecturers did not give lecture's notes beforehand.

    This also depends on the format of the notes. Usually come will give in pdf and others will give in PowerPoint. I annotate all the things that my lecturers said that is not available in the notes. for example, new information or detailed explanation that is not included in the notes. This is important as lecturers love asking things out of the notes during tests or quizzes. I use a pen tablet to write on the slide. I used Wacom One that I bought from Shopee (not spons). I bought it during a sale, so the price was not that high. 

    This is an example of taking note while in synchronous class. I usually put my note and Google meet side by side like this, so that I know what page the lecturer is on. I don't use any special apps, just use the existing Microsoft PowerPoint and the draw function. You will automatically get it when you connect your laptop to your pen tablet.

    This is an example of lecture's notes in pdf format. I just use the normal, free Acrobat Reader and use the comment and highlight feature. I don't usually write on pdf because the pen is not that good, in my opinion. So I just use the comment feature and note down everything my lecturer said.

    And lastly, this is an example of me taking notes during asynchronous class. I have synchronous classes during the day and asynchronous classes during the night (who says ODL is not stressing?) My lecturers will provide us with recorded videos for us to review during the class. There is no difference between sync and async classes except that one is pre-recorded and the other is a real-time online class.

            ii) If my lecturers did not provide any notes beforehand

    This is where I have to really focus in class, and most of the time failed to do so... I use my notebooks and write as notes simple as possible. It is still the same concept except without lecture notes, so I have to write twice faster. Both what is written on the notes and what is not written in the notes.

2. After class

    I use OneNote as my go-to digital note-taking app. At first, I can't really get used to it, but slowly but surely I can control my handwriting. It feels write to write on en tablet while your eyes are glued to the laptop's screen. I started doing digital notes by the end of last semester. It is because I feel like using papers are such a waste of resource. My whole university life has me writing notes on books and papers. Don't get me wrong, it does work and easier to flip through. But more and more I think this is not worth it especially when having online classes where lecture notes are digitally too.

    This is a sample of my note in OneNote. I rarely do this as my classes already consume most of my time. I barely have time to do my assignments, so writing a full note is something I do when I really have time. Otherwise, I just rely on the notes I wrote during the lectures. 

This post is getting long now, so I am just going to stop here. I wish all students fighting! I am here in Perlis because I have lab works I have to complete. I haven't started my lab yet, as it is scheduled to start next week but we will see since we are in lockdown right now. I just want to start and end this lab for good now.

Take care of yourself 💖

Until I write again,

Assalamualaikum.

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Pasar Terapung, Perlis

Assalamualaikum

Hari ni I nak kongsi dengan korang satu tempat menarik dekat Perlis. Korang mungkin dah tahu sebab ada akaun @PerlisAktif di Twitter dan bagitahu tentang tempat ni. Tapi I nak juga kongsikan pengalaman I sendiri pergi kat sini. I pergi sebelum pengumuman PKP lagi, 3 Januari 2021. Dah lama baru nak kongsikan dekat sini. Asyik tak berpeluang je nak menulis. Tulis assignment lagi penting haha.

I tak tahu korang tahu ke tak yang I bukan orang Perlis. I belajar je di salah satu universiti kat sini. Jadi dari kolej kediaman I naik bas ke KWSP Kangar. Haa lepas tu mula la sesi berjalan dengan kawan I. Alhamdulillah cuaca masa tu elok je walau sedikit mendung.

Pasar terapung ni bertempat di Pengkalan Assam, Kangar atau dikenali sebagai Denai Larian. 

Jadi kami berjalan dari KWSP ke Pengkalan Assam tu. Jalan kaki dalam setengah jam atau lebih ada kot. Pertama kali kami pergi jadi tak sedar sejauh tu la. Rupanya ada je jalan shortcut. Dah balik baru tahu -_-

Sebelum masuk kami kena scan MySejahtera dan scan suhu dulu baru boleh masuk. Bila dah berjalan di tempat yang ramai orang, kena pandai jaga diri sendiri contohnya jaga penjarakan sosial. Jumlah sampan yang ada hanya 10. Kira okay la sebab tasik di situ pun tak besar mana pun. Selain dari penjualan makanan dekat sampan tu, ada jugak yang jual di bawah khemah.

Aktiviti yang ada hanyalah kayak dan naik sampan. Seorang RM2 selama 20 minit. Macam menarik tapi kami tak naik pun sebab waktu tu mendung sangat dah. Gambar-gambar di dalam post ini telah di-edit jadi tak nampak sangat mendung tu.

Ada banyak meja dan kerusi disediakan di tepi tasik. Jadi selepas buat pembelian pengunjung boleh duduk mana kat situ. Makanan yang dijual pun boleh tahan, berpatutan dengan harga. Kami beli:

• Somtam mangga - RM5
• Rojak buah - RM5
• ABC - RM3.50

Ini memang harga biasa kat Perlis ni. Somtam tu ada tempat yang lebih murah dan sedap dari kat situ tapi kalau nak cuba okay je. Ada banyak lagi makanan yang kami tak sempat nak rasa sebab lepas tu hujan turun selenbat-lebatnya. Nasib baik kami berdua bawak payung seorang satu. Berlindungkan payung je la duduk di kerusi dan meja yang disediakan sambil makan makanan yang kami beli. Gambar pun tak sempat nak ambil ;-;

Pengalaman yang menarik walaupun bagi sesetengah orang dekat sini kosong je takde apa. I rasa seronok je perhgi sini sambil exercise kaki. Haa lepas tu balik rumah 3 hari sakit peha. I tak biasa jalan jauh-jauh ^^"

Kalau korang datang ke Perlis, jangan lupa singgah kat sini. Ada lagi tempat menarik kat Perlis ni yang I tak jejak lagi. Padahal dah 4 tahun duduk sini haha. Nanti bila I pergi, I akan kongsikan kat sini lagi.

Sehingga I menulis lagi,

Assalamualaikum

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Recap and Lessons of 2020

Assalamualaikum

Happy new year! May Allah bless us this year. May everything will be better this year too. Don't forget to take care of yourself. Value yourself more than you value others. Remember mental health is as important as physical health.

What a year 2020 has been. There are some things that I’m grateful to experience for the first time. Such as those things I have done in quarantine (click to read about it). Also, nothing is stopping me from browsing and buying things online especially when there’s a sale every month. Well, there’s something for sure: an empty bank account.

Let’s recap this year, shall we?

1/3 of 2020: January – April

• February: First time went to a salon and get my hair professionally cut
• March: Made first ceramic, first went to Cameron Highland with my friends, first online class, first lockdown

That’s a lot of firsts in March. Little did past me know that everything would happen so fast. It was a week after we went to Cameron that lockdown happened. Thankful we had time to go there before everything else happened. 

COVID-19 widely spread all over the world and we had our country on lockdown. Months spent in a house. Good and bad things happened but they all in the past now. Alhamdulillah, no one in my family gets sick from the virus. I hope you are well too. Don’t forget to wear your mask!

I turned 22 in April. A very normal day without any celebration because of a certain problem. I am grateful I am still alive. Alhamdulillah.

2/3: May – August

• Jun: First time trying embroidery
• July: Finished my first paint-by-number
• August: Hosted my first giveaway

Everything was slowly back to normal. The number of people infected in Malaysia also decreased. There was even a day where the number of people infected is 0. Don’t you guys miss it too? But it was for a short while. Because of selfish people, we are forced to go through it again.

Spent most of my time reading and watching movies/series at this part of the year. Grateful to have a lot of movies/series to watch. Read here if you are interested in knowing what I have watched. This is the time I decided to start writing on my blog again. But well, that is also short-lived.

3/3: September – December

It has been 2 months since I last wrote anything in this blog. It is because I haven’t done anything except for studying. I don’t want to be repeating the same thing over and over again. All I’ve done just went to laboratories for my lab sessions then staying at my residential college and go to my online class. Occasionally my friends and I will go out to eat or buy things and that’s it. Most of the time spent complaining about the quizzes, tests, and assignments we have to complete within the time limit.

It’s pretty boring, right? See I can write what happened in just a paragraph. I don’t want to bore you with the same thing in every post. Maybe next year exciting things will happen to me and I can share them with you. Maybe. Hopefully.

COVID-19 situation? Even worse. Hit the highest number of people infected in the country somewhere in this part. Please wear your mask, take care of yourself! If you didn’t, who else will do it for you? Let’s take a moment to pray for this epidemic to be better or be gone. May Allah eases our life, insyaAllah.

Lesson learned:

• Overwhelm by the number of works to do? Take a deep breath and start making a list. Sometimes a deep breath is all it takes to chill. If nothing works, go lie down and get yourself together. Do something you like. No one can help you if you didn't help yourself.

Overall 2020 has been an on/off kind of situation. Alas, let’s be thankful that we are still alive now. May 2021 brings us great things. May you get everything you wish for in 2020, InsyaAllah! I am going to get my first nephew next year, InsyaAllah. Please pray that everything will go smoothly for my sister.

How was your 2020? Anything major happened?

Until I write again,

Assalamualaikum

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