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4th University Study Skills Short Course (30th August - 3rd September 2000) After the success of last three years Study Skills course, the Education Committee of the Council of European Jamaats decided to hold one this year too. This year the course was again held at Syeda Zainab Complex in Birmingham and was attended by 12 students.
The aim of the course is to help students take charge of their own affairs, not only in the non-educational side of the college/university time, but also in the learning and studying patterns. Learning how to study effectively is a skill that has to be taught first, and then put into practice by the student. The course was organised by Dr. Mahmood Datoo.
Below is the report of the 2000 Study Skills Course, presented by one of the participants, Safia Panju.
Jamaats may like to take advantage of the participants by inviting them to teach some of the skills to GCSE and A Level Students.
On Wednesday 30th of August, 8 eager students - myself included - boarded a mini-bus at Stanmore bound for Birmingham and the experience known as the Council of European Jamaats Study Skills course. There we met up with two students from Birmingham and two from Peterborough, making 12 in all. The Study Skills Course is aimed at students about to embark on a degree course at university, and aims to prepare us for the big jump from A level to degree standard. The course is run by Dr Mahmood Datoo, with two sessions taken by outside speakers, Jenny Foster and Lady Mary Tovey. Dr. Mahmood was also ably supported by the short-course assistant, Azra Fazel, who had attended the course last year. She tried to give us feed-back on how useful she had found the various activities in her first year at university. The administration was also superbly handled by the Short Course Administrator Muhsin Dharamsi.
On arrival in Birmingham, we were hardly given any time at all to settle in when the first lesson began - obviously, we were going to have to work hard! The first session was all about finding out what kind of people we were and how we studied best - for example whether we preferred to take in information orally, visually through pictures, or through reading and writing. This would help us find out which exercises would be most beneficial to us as individuals.
That night we were taken out for dinner - the first of many visits to experience the culinary delights of Birmingham. The food at Lahore Karahi was excellent, so much so that when we returned to the Seyyeda Zainab centre none of us felt like sleeping - we were fortunate in that the building is equipped with a badminton court, table tennis facilities, and pool tables, so there was no possibility of boredom!
The following morning, we were treated to a deluxe breakfast of cereal, toast, tea, fried eggs, and omelette. The boys all seemed unusually smart that morning - we were having our group photograph taken - yet two minutes after the photographer left, the neatly ironed shirts disappeared, not to be seen again until the course presentation dinner!
Thursday was spent learning about time management, and we had the opportunity to fill out some planners to work out our weekly schedules. We also looked at the preparations necessary before a lecture, how to make useful notes, and how to get the best from them afterwards. These are skills that will be invaluable at university, and we all found them interesting and potentially useful. The afternoon session was taken by one of the guest lecturers, Jenny Foster. She taught us how to effectively use mind-maps rather than pages of notes to revise from. We all found this session interesting and informative, particularly as most of us had not used this technique before.
As always, we were constantly supplied with food and drink; on this course it is impossible to go hungry! That night, after we attended the Jumeraat majlis at the mosque, we were taken bowling, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, and then on to dinner at KFC - Karachi Fried Chicken. We didn't return until 1am, and even then most people stayed up till much later. The fatigue the following morning was to have some interesting consequences…
Of course, most people were still half asleep when they dragged themselves down for breakfast, especially the boys, who didn't arrive until we had nearly finished. Someone switched the salt and the sugar bowls. So, when a boy was offered the 'sugar' bowl, he accepted it and added three heaped teaspoons to his tea. We all waited expectantly, while Muhsin Dharamsi stood in the corner with his camera trained on the poor unsuspecting victim. None of the boys even noticed him - so when the boy took the much anticipated sip from his cup, his disgust was captured on film for all to see. From that moment on, everyone tasted the sugar before they poured it over their cornflakes, or added it to their tea, just in case!
On Friday morning we learnt about reading skills and the SQ3R method to improve our ability to take notes from textbooks We were also taught to preview a book before reading it so we could find out which books were most important for our particular needs. Again, all of these skills would be beneficial to us at university, especially for those on Arts courses where the amount of reading is huge.
Friday afternoon was spent with a guest speaker - Lady Mary Tovey, who talked to us about Memory techniques, as well as including some practical exercises to test how good we were! We also practiced speed-reading, another useful technique, and after only three attempts we had all dramatically improved on our initial scores. The session was definitely a success, as we all felt that we had learnt something that would help us later on.
Friday night was the wafaat of Bibi Fatema (a.s.) and after attending the majlis we were all taken out to yet another restaurant for dinner this time at Desi-Khana. That night too most people stayed awake, although many of us crashed out a bit earlier as we found we couldn't keep our eyes open!
Saturday was our last teaching day, and we learnt about structuring an essay, and writing a report. That morning we were dropped a bombshell - we all knew that that night was our course dinner and presentation - but what we did not know was that we all had to give a speech! Fortunately, Dr. Mahmood ended the afternoon session early to allow us an hour to write our speeches, but we were all still complaining as to how short the notice period was! The ceremony took place in a function room of a restaurant, and was attended by many dignitaries. We were all nervous at the prospect of addressing so many people, but in the end everything went well - we even, managed to persuade the Council of European Jamaats to give us £60 as prize money for that night's competitions! When we returned to the mosque at about 1am, the badminton and pool competition began, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The following morning, once we had cleared up the centre, we made our way sleepily back to Stanmore, much the wiser. The course definitely fulfilled it's aim to aid us in our preparation for university - we all felt that we were now better equipped to begin a new part of our lives than we were when we began. This course is a must for all those about to begin their degree courses - not only did we learn a lot, we had lots of fun while we did so! And, to prove that I am not just saying that, here are a few quotes from other participants:
We learnt many tangible skills which we can implement in our further studies.
Muhammed Kassam
The course will undoubtedly prove to be extremely beneficial throughout university and beyond.
Zahid Khimji
The course should set me up well for university and hopefully I can practice and implement the topics covered. It was to me a thoroughly enjoyable and informative course and I would recommend it to everyone.
Assad Abdullah
Very good food, very good lectures, lots of jokes and fun. I would recommend it to everyone who has just finished their A levels.
Riaz Walji
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