Tag online learning platforms

First graded exam at university! (and end of Week 5)

Rachel Tan HX Leave a comment

We’re at the end of week 5 now. It is Friday, 3rd of July 2020.

University coursework and assignments are piling up. We are going to have a few minor exams, but minor they may be, they are going to be GRADED.

I am going to sit for my first ever graded exam for Chemistry in university next Wednesday, at 6.30pm – 8pm!

(Yes, you heard that right. And we will still have 3 lecture classes in the morning before that. I will be so exhausted by then. I have never in my life done and exam at 6.30pm.)

Then, I will also have biology, physics and math exams in the following weeks.

I cannot afford to flunk these exams, not when I am aiming for a CGPA of 3.5 for the entire foundation year to get into MBBS (medical degree). I shall be sure to work hard, and do well all the way. To tell the truth, I am lagging behind a bit in catching up with my assignments, and everyday the pile grows larger and more difficult to handle.

Somehow, I must find a way to coordinate all my assignments and revision such that I can keep up daily with my work.

As for online learning, I am beginning to recognize my disembodied coursemates by voice, which is funny. I am also becoming more familiar with some of the names in the online meetings – names of my coursemates, who don’t talk during class, so unfortunately I’m sad to not be able to get to know them! Our time will come… next year, probably.

Our university has announced classes on campus will resume only next year, even though the Malaysian government has very recently declared that primary and secondary school students will be going back soon, universities will be allowed to reopen soon, and even cinemas and theme parks will reopen their doors soon. But our university has declared online classes for the May and October trimesters. We’ll have to wait. 😥

(*28th of January, 2021 update: With the COVID situation now, it seems my 3rd semester (January trimester) will be online, too. Looks like my entire foundation year will be online. But I don’t mind, I think online lectures are quite an experience as well. )

I will be working very hard on time management and understanding certain topics for the next few weeks.

When I’ve established a organized system for my learning and I have gained control, I will come here and announce it here!

Being able to keep up would also mean I have finally gotten my university life in order, and that would allow things to feel steadier.

That’s all for now. Wish me luck for my exams! :b

~Rachel Tan HX, Blog author, 3 July 2020.

Just got my university online lecture notes!

Rachel Tan HX 2 Comments

Just checked our university’s e-learning website and some of the notes (all of them are in powerpoint presentation form) are ALREADY UP! I am not sure whether these are our main notes, or just for casual reading, but it is something, for sure.

Update on 28th of January 2021: Those were not our main notes, they were old notes just for our reference.

I have printed some out to start studying already. MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) is one of the most rigorous courses, and to achieve AND maintain a CGPA of 3.5 in foundation leading to the degree course, the minimum requirement to enter our institution’s MBBS degree course, I absolutely have to get going!

I would like to repeat again that although this blog is meant for everyone, its main purpose is to be a guide, or simply a companion, for my peer and future-generation friends who are looking to pursue medicine as a career. Through this blog, I also hope to connect with you and would love to be friends. You can find me at Instagram (@racheltan_hx).

As of now, our e-learning environment has put up lecture notes in the form of presentation slides, along with some videos for certain chapters, and quizzes to test our knowledge. It has a very simple user interface (layout and design). However, I still find exploring the student portal, e-learning platform etc interesting.

I must remind you that I have only just attended my e-orientation, and the commencement date for the foundation programs is later in June; however fret not! I have signed up for some online talks, hosted by my university as a welcoming for new university students. Still, there has been no instructions to read the notes in the student portal, and there have been no lectures at all yet.

I am currently still unsure how we will be informed when there will be a online lecture; but I will cross the bridge when I come to it 😉

For now, I shall check some of the notes out. There is already a lot of content on the e-learning platform. Cell Biology, here I come!

~Rachel Tan, Blog author, 16 May 2020.

University E-orientation!

Rachel Tan HX 1 Comment

Hey guys! Recently, I went for my university orientation. It’s my first day at university!…. I clapped, looking at a corporate video of my new campus.

Dad jokingly said that from today onward, I was already a university student, but I said no. I think I would much prefer remembering the date where my lectures commenced, not when I started orientation…. especially because this e-orientation certainly paled in comparison to a conventional face-to-face orientation, where we could hear the unfamiliar voices, see the new faces, and wiggle about as we sat cross-legged on the floor, or on plastic chairs (I don’t know, can’t imagine it.) There would have been laughs and fun. Now, I am forced to ingest all this information, including university rules, online e-learning platforms, co-curricular activities, settling of admission and academic documents, student bill, student ID card and way more within a short period of time. The numerous departments in a university is also unbelievable, to me at least.

The E-orientation did not contain the live video chats or live forums as I had hoped for, but it is still really interesting. After watching the videos of welcome speeches from the university president and students, I logged into the e-orientation portal with my email ID.

How terribly clever! At the end of the page, there was a quiz that asked you questions regarding certain content from the whole e-orientation homepage and portal. Now I will have to go back and read it thoroughly…. while taking note of what the university wants us new students to take note of. I clicked on the e-handbook for freshmen link, and made sure I paid more attention as I read the information in the handbook. With specific information to look out for, it made reading the content just a little bit more fun. I actually started enjoying myself a bit, as I scoured and dug around for the information I needed! :b

The university has listed on its website the pages/accounts that new students should be checking every once in a while, since there will either be announcements or coursework issued through these portals. I have saved all four of them in a folder in the favourites bar on my computer.

Today, I’d just realized that some of our lecture presentation notes are already up (for now, I don’t know if that is all the notes we have or if they are just for casual reading, since all of them are in powerpoint form), and there’s still a lot more to check out on the e-orientation page: videos to watch, pages to read, talks to sign up for etc. Really, when you’re in the middle of it all, it can be a bit tiring; but I learn to have fun along the way. In all, it truly is quite exciting.

And… the floor plan of the university building. It’s not a big university, quite small in fact compared to University Malaya who has a large campus spanning many kilometers; but still. Dear me.

I may just get lost! :b

At this point of lockdown, though, I would rather be lost in a campus then be stuck at home.