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Minneapolis Jamaat put in a request to the Education Committee of CoEJ to run its University Study Skills.
When Dr Mahmood Datoo confirmed his visit to Minneapolis for Majalis recitation
during the Ashra-e-Zainbiyya, the Minneapolis Jamaat put in a request to the Education
Committee of CoEJ to run its University Study Skills Course there for the benefit of their
students who would going to the University soon. Without any reservation at all, the Education Committee of CoEJ gave its full blessings for the project to go ahead.
About 30 participants, about an equal division of boys and girls, of the target age group,
attended the sessions. People outside the target group were also invited as observes at the
back of the class. As the available time was limited, the course was run in a condensed and intensive form that that normally conducted in the annual Birmingham format. The timing of the visit was coincidentally suitable as the students were on the Easter vacation (Spring break, as they say it in US) on the first week-end, and Chehlum on the second week-end. Two
hours sessions was run on Friday, and a five hours session each on Saturday and Sunday.
As usual, quizzes were run to provide some relief from the study skills lectures, and also to stretch the academic and lateral thinking skills of the participants. The winner was Mohamedali Karim and the runner up was Amin Aser. They were both presented with academic stationery gifts by the Resident Aalim, Maulana Muhammad Rizwani (who himself attended some sessions as an observer).
Written feedback was sought from the participants, and below are their selected (both
good and not so good) reflections:
“The lectures were very informative.”
“I hope more such lectures are presented in different areas aimed to our level and
successes.”
“This was an excellent course, glad I took it.”
“Quizzes – should have been more. They were fun.”
“It was not necessary to run this course because the student can learn it by himself as soon as he gets experiences.”
“The notes were very well structured.”
“The course should have been spread over more time.”
“Quizzes – I did not find any relevance.”
“The course was geared towards the British and not American system. It would have been more helpful if the lecturer was more aware of the American system.”
“British terminology is confusing.”
“I enjoyed the questionnaire that determined my learning preferences.”
“The concluding remarks in the purpose of obtaining a an education/degree were priceless.”
“Excellent workshop, worth attending.”
“His final 1.5 minutes conclusion was an inspiring speech, that directed us all that we learned in the right direction.”
Report by Amin Aser
Journal day 1
Dear Diary,
Today I attended classes to help me learn the best way to learn. That’s not a
mistake; it truly was a class that teaches the best way of learning. Even though it sounds like a waste of time, it really was not.
The class was basically taught to us by numerous exercises to help us learn about ourselves. For example, after filling out a questionnaire I found out that I was an Activist and a Pragmatist. This means that I like to jump into new things with a lot of energy, but weighing the repercussions and possibilities at the same time. Another piece of information I learned about myself was that I need to be in a quite state of solitude when I study. I can’t study around a lot of people and noise. I usually study with my friends, so I am eager to try this new environment and see how I do on my next test. Along with that, I came to know of other learning preferences I have and effective study habits I should form because of them. For example, I found out that I am a ‘feelings person.’
This means that I have strong feelings [like/dislike] about the lecturer. As a result of this I can be highly motivated or discouraged because of the lecturer. Because of this, I learned that I should put my feelings about the teacher aside.
Besides being educated about me, we learned an important concept. As of now, my main job is to be a student and to get educated. Although the concept is extremely easy and not thought provoking at all, it struck me hard. I seem to have forgotten that or had that covered up with all my extracurricular activities and social life. This idea slipped my mind, but thankfully, Dr Datoo brought it back into my mind. The seminar was a great success and I will definitely be attending the FIVE hour session tomorrow.
Journal Day 2
Dear Diary,
After that strenuous five hour seminar, I am mentally strained. Next time I hope they break it up into more days so that we can be there for less time. We did however have constant breaks every hour, which really helped.
Back to the topic, today during the crash-course, I became educated on numerous topics. One of which was the ‘Super-Student.’ So far, this was by far the biggest waste of time in the duration of the course. It was complete bull-honky and an udder waste of time. Nevertheless, we still became educated a lot of other ideas that will prove to be beneficial to my study habits.
I learned about time-management and how important it is to organize my life. I found out that I should make a yearly and weekly timetable for various reasons. This idea made sense to me, and I will implement it in my daily life from now on. Preparing for a lecture was also taught today. I became skilled on the things that are to be done before, during and after a lecture. It was very interesting even thought I am not in the stage of life in which notes on lectures are taken. But, I will be ready for that when the time comes.
The meat of the crash-course came next. I learned how to take, make and use notes effectively. For example, I learned a bunch of things to listen for and ways of finding the main ideas out of everything. I also became familiar with technique used to review notes. It was VERY informative and will be with me for the rest of my life. Even with all the breaks, today’s session was long and tiresome. I still learned a lot and it was a success, but in the future I hope the administration keeps the students in their mind before making an intensive activity like this.
Journal Day 3
Dear Diary,
The last day of the crash-course was phenomenal. Just when I think it has reached a plateau, it raises and becomes even better than it was before. Today we learned about the technique in reading textbooks. This is by far my weakest aspect of school, so it benefited me the most. I learned a bank of words to look for when trying to find the important things out of the clutter. I also became a master in book previewing. This will help me TONS during college when I need to read background information on a topic. This concept helped me to learn what to look for in a book, and which books are better than others.
One thing that won’t do justice if I leave out was the great food we have been getting over the course of this seminar. Today we had pizza and yesterday gyros. I must say, the food was spectacular. Good job administration. Back to the topic at hand, locating main ideas was also taught. This is what most of the exams I take deal with. I learned a great deal from this and it will be used for years to come.
The things we learned are not limited to the things I have written, but I am highlighting the parts that I enjoyed most. Dr Mahmood Datoo did a fantastic job teaching us. We were all a bit stubborn, but he did as best as he possibly could to teach us. Not to mention, he added enough humor into the curriculum to make it entertaining.
After the last session, even though it was five hours long, I left with a better understanding of how to go about studying for examinations in the future. This crashcourse was a great success and I hope to see it taught to other youth. I am 100% sure it will prove to be as beneficial to them as it was for me.
Report by Zahra Khorasani
On Friday, April 2nd the Anjuman-e-Ashghari community—especially the youth— immensely benefited from the wide knowledge base of Dr. Mahmood Datoo. In a two-hour afternoon session we learned more about study behavior and skills than some of us have ever learned in our entire lifetime. First, we were assessed on our learning style and were amazed and the variety in learning styles we shared in only our small room. We were like a microcosm—a reflection of the larger community and world we live in. We were a classroom of activists, reflectionists, theorists, and pragmatists. Some were a combination thereof. It was quite intriguing. We also learned about multi-skills assessment and learning preferences. I don’t know about the rest of the participants, but I must admit I was dragging my feet on Saturday, April 3. ‘Who wants to spend five hours on a beautiful, sunny spring day learning how to prepare for a lecture?’ I grumbled to myself, whilst entering the Madressa building. Perhaps I spoke too soon. It took Dr. Datoo about ten minutes to make it quite evident that we were wasting our time. I’m not talking about class time—I’m talking about time in our daily schedules. Dr. Datoo had us map out our weekly schedule in half-hour increments and explained the importance of time management, not only in terms of our student life, but even in daily life beyond college. After a delicious lunch, we learned to take diligent notes, and how to make good use of those notes. The five hours flew by very quickly!
On Sunday, April 4th we met one last time. We were taught efficient ways to read, such
as using the SQ3R method. After another delicious lunch, we continued. Book
previewing was another important topic. The group struggled though a couple of very
informative activities, trying to distinguish between main ideas, major details and minor
details. I think the most important message that participants walked away with from this
workshop was the fact that we don’t need to be a “super student” in order to be successful
in college (i.e. students need not deprive themselves of sleep, exercise, or a social life to
dedicate 100% of their time to studying). As Islam teaches us, moderation in all things is
good—excess is not. I would highly recommend this lecture to students and professionals of all ages. The topics can be useful in all areas of life—even beyond college. |
