Last Friday, my fellow colleagues and I attended a workshop called "Bengkel Pemantapan Kerjaya" where there were a few talks on ethics, pedagogy, professionalism and other work related stuff... However, in this post, I'm not gonna highlight anything on the talks because I wasn't really paying attention to them... Just kidding, I was paying attention and some of the things presented I found as useful... but here, I want to share a bit of my observation of some of my colleagues on the talks...

The first talk was delivered by the Rector of UiTM Melaka, Dato' Mizan... When Dato' was talking, I could see that most of the lecturers seemed uninterested... There were a few smiles but they faded away minutes later... No one seemed to be able to maintain attention for more than 10 minutes... 

A different case happened during the second and third talk... Both speakers for the talks are from the Education Faculty of UiTM Shah Alam... As soon as they started talking, I could see that most of my colleagues who studied in Shah Alam lightened up and paid full attention to both talks... I understood that both speakers were their former lecturers and both were awesome to them...

For me, this somehow proved something quite significant for teaching and learning... It made me think about how the close bond between the lecturers and their students can motivate the students to pay more attention to the lecturers' teachings / lessons...

Well, if you really think about it, this thing kinda makes sense... Just imagine if your lecturer is a person who never smiles, always gets angry for no particular reasons and quite distant from his / her students... Would you feel motivated to go to his / her class? I don't think so...

In comparison, if the lecturer is always smiling, friendly and charming, I'm sure that all of you would gladly come to each class without strong resentment... It would help a lot if the lecturer is handsome or beautiful...

Lecturers and teachers should be more friendly to the students because it will bring positive effects on teaching and learning... 

It actually works both ways... a lecturer would also be motivated to come to class and teach if the students are friendly and respectful... I love teaching, but whenever my students are disrespectful by coming in to class late, I feel a bit demotivated to go on with my lessons... I'm sure most lecturers feel the same way... 

A positive and friendly learning environment should bring great impact on the development of students' learning as it motivates them to be more attentive in class... If you are interested on this topic, maybe you could do a few researches on affective filters and learning motivation... 

Therefore, if you feel that you are a little harsh and unfriendly to your students or your lecturers, maybe you could change a bit and be friendlier... There's no harm in that right?

In spite of that, there must always be limitations... Lecturers and students must maintain professionalism and avoid personal conflicts... Some people tend to say that we cannot avoid fate... "Kalau dah jodoh, nak buat macammana?"... Yeah, it's true... but it doesn't mean you can just throw yourself into the arms of fate and don't resist a bit... Like I said before, TRY to avoid it... Keep your distance and have more self control... Remember that every action has consequences...