Assalamualaikum Dear Readers,

As part of our Educational Psychology class, each of us was assigned into a group of 6. Each group were to draw a subject and we were lucky to get Pendidikan Islam as our subject J Following will be a review on an online learning activity site related to our subject (Pendidikan Islam). The site can be viewed at http://www.islamkids.my/ilearn/mylogin.html.

The mentioned website’s name is Islam Kids. It is suitable for kindergarten and primary school children. Even a one year old baby is encouraged to be exposed to this website. The ranges of age for this specific website are those between 1 to 10 years old. It is a very fun and interactive website that allows the users to be exposed and learn basics Islamic knowledge as a Muslim at a very early age. The basics are very important as foundations for children. It will be much easier for them to grasp and practice the knowledge as they grow up.

As everyone is aware, today we are living in a much sophisticated world with high technologies and other convenience around. The net has been very useful and bad at the same time, spreading messages and ideas vastly. It depends on individuals on which to choose. Information is easily accessed. It is always a click away. Given the Pendidikan Islam subject, we focus more on the Islamic aspects. Even the website is named after the religion and reflects on what group it focuses on. Kids are known to be easily attracted to colourful things. This page is much suitable and highly recommended for them as it was set up in a fun, interactive, personalised, advertisement-free and in a secure environment. It is said to be personalised because everyone is encouraged to register and login when they visit the page. Once registering yourself, you may interact with other peoples registered on the website. It may be seen like an Islamic social-networking page that is at the same time, knowledgeable. It gives benefit to those who registers.

They have divided the games for the different type of ages targeted. There are three groups which are 1 to 4 years old, 5 to 7 years old, and 8 to 10 years old. As Muslims, we are known to be the caliphs of Allah in this world. The page addresses those registered as Khalifah. Whether you have registered or not, you may be able to click on the “Free Activities” button. In the fun activities, there are games, lesson demo, printables and apps for iPhone users. The activities provided can also be printed out. Not only that, kids whose parents are iPhone users may download the apps and play it anytime. There are several other games that these kids are attracted to on iPhone, why not we play Islamic games that can also enhance our knowledge? J There are lessons such as my first Iqra’, Arabic, Wudhu’, Solat and many others. The instructions are quite clear and understandable for kids to digest.

There are payments for those who wish to subscribe the learning series. It may cost approximately RM 30 to RM 50 only, depending on the duration you subscribe it. Personally, it does not seem too expensive as the charge is acceptable with the various activities provided. However, it may be a burden for some parents as they may face some financial difficulties. Having an internet access is considered good enough, but to pay extra may seem a bit hard. The activities presented looks so interesting, yet are limited and need to be purchased to have a further view.  This may dishearten kids whose parents can’t afford to pay.

Anyway, let’s not focus too much on that part as there are more good things that can be gained rather than the not so good things from this website. Anything that may enhance our iman is good. I was attracted to the page from the very first time I encounter it. I could not wait to explore the content and also introduce it to my Uncle and Aunties. They surely need to have this for their children. May Allah grant those who created the website and have shared this creative and fun approach of learning with other fellow Muslims. I hope that other readers will have a view of the fun page and enjoy it like how I did!

Salam and peace to all.

Review done by: Nawal Ismahali (0913416)

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY ARTICLES REVIEW

Salam everyone,

This is a link related to the correlation teaching method:

http://content.ebscohost.com/pdf19_22/pdf/ddd/pdh/edu/edu-85-3-395.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=edu-85-3-395&S=L&D=pdh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNLe80Sep7Q4xNvgOLCmr0qep69Srqq4TLeWxW

Our short summary of the article is as written below:

Based on the article reviewed, the author predicted that group of students of similar ability levels having different styles of engagement with learning would display significant differences in the level of achievement. In conducting this research, six styles of engagement were identified; detached, committed, hopeful, engaged, disengaged, and keen-to-do-well. There is a relationship between the achievement of the students and the six styles used by them. However, not all six styles may contribute to a higher achievement. This is referring to the detached and disengaged style. The findings indicated that the students who are more committed to the style of engagement would gain higher school achievement scores.


This is a link related to the descriptive teaching method:

http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/pdf/5.3.7.pdf

Our short summary of the article is as written below:

A descriptive study by Roach and Lemasters (2006), examined about the relevance of an online Master’s program in educational administration and leadership. This study was to investigate the level of satisfaction with online learning and the comparison between using online and narrative pedagogy on level of satisfaction among students. The participants of this study were the students of the online Master’s in Educational Administration program. The data obtained through the final evaluations of the course was then analyzed in which a Likert scale for rating statements related to the content and delivery of the course, also a survey included a number of question and provided the respondent an opportunity to make and additional comments. The result indicated a greater degree of satisfaction, proving that students in the program were satisfied with the delivery of the online courses. However, there are still issues concerning students’ need for direct consultation to be considered which may affect the effectiveness of the learning progress.


This is a link related to the experimental teaching method:

http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/8258

Our short summary of the article is as written below:

The study was conducted to examine the effect of being multitasking while completing school work. In order to complete the study, eighty nine college students were selected consisted of 43 females and 46 males. All the students were randomly categorized into three situations which are, receiving instant messaging before reading, receiving instant messaging during reading, or not receiving any instant messaging. Subjects were told that they would either receive instant messaging before reading, while reading, or not at all. The researchers created a fake situation where a passage from a psychology textbook was displayed on five consecutive screens. For the experimental group, an instant messaging appeared on each of the five screens warned by an alert sound. The students were given a multiple choice test with 25 questions after reading the passage and also were asked to complete a demographic questionnaire to measure their typical instant messaging behaviour. Based on the result finding, there were no differences in theirs’ performance between the three groups. The only difference was the time taken for the students who instant messaged during reading was longer than the other two groups. Thus, this study conclude that students who instant messaging during reading also perform well, yet take longer time to finish the task given.