Amna’s blog

On my final day, I gathered all of my data and I organized them in different categories such as: spread sheets, CDs, booklets and miscellaneous. This will help me on attaching my appendix when writing my Analysis report easily. I think that depending on the internet as a main source for the literature review and analysis report will not totally support the writing ideas. As a result finding other published sources from books, encyclopedias if needed when enrich the bibliography. The most important think is selecting the relevant recourse to read and refer.

On my final day I discovered one of the most important projects that will assist me on doing my action research. The project is about developing MOE website which started since 2 months by the Quality, HR, IT departments. I was surprised to know about the details of the project which supposed to finish on 2^nd of December.  Again this showed me the negative communication between the departments at MOE, so I believe that I have to plan for an alternative action research that would be related to communication in the ministry.

Dealing with technical issues is easy but solving organizing issues with others might be difficult. In this day, I noticed that organizing tasks, time and staff is important. Some of the employees might fall in mistakes and this is possible in everywhere. But solving any problem require diplomacy, patience and concentration.  

Furthermore, I found that most of the employees at MOE were so collaborative with me and they accepted to take the surveys. Some of them were very busy by doing their tasks, others were preparing for their workshops and training courses. This showed me that getting involved in different activities, training courses will expand my knowledge about various issues and topics. Moreover, it is important to be have clear instructions, tasks time table and deadlines to accomplish the work. Installing post it software on your desktop might be helpful. Post it the free software encourages the users to be organized. It has alerts to remind you of events, meetings, deadlines and it has a small digital writable posts to write your tasks on. Here is the direct link for post it software (link) download it and enjoy it.

 On the other hand, I thought deeply about the topic of my action research and I list them on a mind map which I created by a web basted platform and I think that I will decide on the suitable topic after I meet my mentors at the department to choose the suitable topic to take an action about it.

Sheihk Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum commanded MOE to celebrate the National Day of the UAE before 2^nd of December. This National event took place in every school, institute, college and university to give the students the chance of expressing their love for the country.

The schools held different activities for teachers and students to involve them all to participate and share their love of the UAE through their draws, photos, poems and stories. I think this will give the students the competence for challenging tasks to vie between each other. MOE on Monday was an effective model to pursue during the celebration since MOE was decorated with flags, draws, pictures and ribbons and it was incredible.

On the other hand, spending some time to look for video editing software was significant to produce the documentary film later. Searching for any free software require time and effort since there are several invalid websites promote for fake software. These fake advertisements and promotions might include spying files, hacking folders which make your computer at risk.

By the end of the day, I found a video editor and converter software which have lots of features and options to produce my documentary film. I saved my time so I don’t need to search for that again in my second semester. Finally, in my point of view, windows movie maker can be a good video software but trying a new one would be best.

I arrived home at 12 am and I was a pleasant educational trip to Kuwait. I present the college and my country professionally and I am proud of myself. I learn several things from my trip which will help me in the future and will enrich my CV.

·         MUN:

AUK MUN president

From the Model United Nations I learn different political, environmental and educational issues around the world. I learnt the method of dealing officially with other delegates and chairman since there are a special phrases and expressions to state such as “Honorable chairman follow delegates, point of information, point of privilege”. These formal phrases are officially used in the United Nations, so it was an effective practice to approach the real idea of the United Nations.

·         Future Career:

After the meeting with the ambassador of the Ireland who came to the American University of Kuwait (AUK) and gave a speech about his participation of the MUN when he was at the university. He explained the importance of MUN and how does it improve the personal characteristics by meeting other delegates from the world and debating for and against the issues. I was so delighted to know that it is possible to join the UN in the future if I had enough knowledge and news of the world.  

·         Communication:

It was interesting to meet different students from different learning levels. At AUK I met

My new friends

students from the university and others from the high schools. Also, I was so pleased to communicate Bahrain delegates who studied at the Royal Medical College. Building networks from a political background was something new for me since I was introduced to the MUN AUK president who is Abdulaziz AlMutawa. He is such a great student from the international studies department at the university. I spoke to him personally and I was an owner to be a friend of him and the other students from the high school. Moreover, I am in touch with the high school students via the instant messages and we are now good friends. On the other hand, I get to know the college students who travelled with me and they were so kind, helpful and humorous.

·         English Practice:

The trip gave me the chance to practice my writing and speaking skills in English. During the conference I join a group of delegates to write our resolutions for the following issues: drug trafficking, human trafficking, millennium goals and nuclear weapons. I learnt lots of new vocabulary and collocations in the international studies. In addition, communicating with the delegates during the 4 days was in English and I think that was an effective practice during my work placement weeks.

·         Independency:

MUN AUK trip taught me how to be organized, responsible, prepared, punctual and independent. I used to depend on my mother on everything even on waking up on the morning. But when I was abroad I learnt how to depend on myself  and do everything by my own. Not only that I was praised daily by Ms Rafeef and Dr. Christina for being responsible, organized and punctual.

AUK MUN crew

Finally, I would like to mention that the MUN trip taught me lots of positive aspects in present and future. I learnt from the trip the general idea of the United Nations. Also, I gain benefit from delegates who I met and I practice my English language. Moreover, I learnt to be independent.

After I had prepared for my action research and I was almost done. I spend my time on preparing myself for the Model United Nations “Definition” which would take place for the first time at American University in Kuwait. This is an important trip for me since I will represent the college and my country abroad. I would like to reflect on the MUN and my preparation for this conference. I was selected to join this trip after I had an interview with Ms. Rafeef, Dr. Christina and Ms. Gail who asked me and other 8 students several questions about debating and other social and political issues in the UAE and the world. I was so flexible and confident to respond on the questions and discuses topics and because of that I was selected to go to Kuwait.

 The college supported me by organizing several sessions to train and prepare for MUN. I was so pleased also to see that MOE and the curriculum department so co operative and supportive with the college where they allowed me twice to leave at 12:30 to attend me preparation sessions. I chose to be a delegate of DR of Congo and I think that I learnt lots of information of an African world.  Here are some valid sources (add some links here)which I looked through and gain benefit from them. The MUN has three section which are General assembly which I signed for, Security Council and the GCC. The General Assembly is focusing only at the millennium goals, social issues, environmental issues and women and children rights. Therefore, I looked at lots of websites and I searched for the previous topics and the general information of the country, the history, people and president. I wrote my position paper for the general speech and I think I am prepared now.

My flight would be at 11pm and I have to be at Dubai airport at 9pm, terminal 1 where I will meet Ms Rafeef, Dr. Christine and 7 other students from the college who are on their first year and studying business and IT. Wish me luck girls!

On this day I met Ms Mary to discuss with her the analysis and the case study which I had started from week 11. It was a positive meeting because I received an immediate feedback from my teacher and reinforcement which kept me motivated intrinsically. I came up with the following tasks to be focused on: Mind Map, literature Review, Moodle Module, Designing logo and brochure project. These projects will assist me to prepare the action research on the following semester. I think this is a good chance to practice my design and writing skills therefore to improve them and to spend the second semester working on the action research which will be done according the ADDIE system. This remind me of “”.

Furthermore, I had decided with Salama to work collaboratively on the needs are the curriculum department had mentioned before but we will implement it according to what we had learn from the college by using various knowledge and skills. This proved that I am able to work on challenged tasks since I has high competent to do so. I was pleased after the meeting with Ms Mary since she was helpful, organized and supportive and she wished me luck on my MUN AUK trip to Kuwait.

On this day I spend some time following some people on Twitter and I found some great websites which provide for you free java scripts to build on your website. The tutorials available are very simple and easy to use and implement.

Today completed my survey and send it to Mary to check it for me. The survey is about the ministry website and how effective it is. I wrote various types of questions such as yes/no, multiple choice and open ended to conclude the survey. I received the correction with clear notes and positive feedback, so  my following step is to translate the questions from English to Arabic. It will not take from me a long time to translate the questions to Arabic because I have a strange writing skills in Arabic. On this day, I was surprised to see the small studio at the department. It has several equipments which helps to record audio tracks for educational proposes.

This remind me of Reem and Aisha who had mentioned previously on their blogs about taping audio tracks at their work placement. It was not the same studio since the MOE recording by using computers rather that the tapes which had been used at SEZ . Moreover, I think that interviewing the administrator Assistant of the department was something positive which showed the parents and the audience of the TV – radio station that MOE is caring about their learners and sharing the new educational projects for them. Finally I think that the UAE media and MOE working in clarity and honesty to demonstrate the truth for everyone.

Today, I checked my Facebook account and looked through the educational groups that I joint before and I found lots of beneficial things and I am pleased to share these groups with you:

On my final day of week 11 I organized my tasks with Salam and we decided the following: Checking our surveys on weekend, handing them to the target audience and gathering them to study the issue on Sunday. The best thing is that we always share the information between us even the surveys issues since that will save the time and will give us a chance to focus on choosing the topic of the action research. for those who are looking for the surveys guide: http://www.constantcontact.com/aka/docs/pdf/survey_sample_qa_tips.pdf I was so pleased to meet

Photocopier of the department

Ms Khadijah Al Salami the Director of Technology which is responsible of creating and designing the suitable electronic materials for the curriculum. I was surprised to know that she had a Science and laboratories bachelor degree and she never thought of teaching in schools. After developing labs educational tutorials, materials for the teacher and the learners she work straight out in MOE that discover her excellent job. she told us that MOE deals with several aboard companies which create educational films to enhance learning and the cost reaches quarter million not less for one 3d animated film.  She explained the process of producing a film from selecting the company till establishing the film. Finally, she hopes that the new organizing of departments in MOE will return the technology department again instead of being a part of the Curriculum Department.

Later on, we observed Muna who is responsible for publication and curriculum feedback from the

I liked that dictionary

educators and teachers. She explained how does she organizes her folders, statistics spread sheets, letters, publication companies, books and others. From that I learnt more about the importance of being organized when doing the work. Muna is one of the people who I meet daily and I think that she is a great person and helpful. Finally, I received positive reinforcement from Ms Mary who attend on the afternoon to check and follow our competent. I realized also how is the ethics statement is significant. I was so delighted when I saw her and I think her feedback gives me an energy to work and to achieve my goals. To be honest really I need that all the time to give, act and do positively.

I think that the work placement would be interesting this year, I thought about several places but I wish that I can join the Equestrian Center in Sharjah since I think that there are lots of technical ways to develop the center. Moreover, I prefer to be in a quiet place without dealing with any customers. Here is a list of the places that I would like to be in:

1-      Discovery Museum

2-       Sharjah Equestrian Center

3-      Dobal

4-      Sharjah Women’s College

5-      Sharjah International  Airport

On the other hand, I found lots of valid websites that provide good samples of the CVs which will ease me writing my own CV or Resume which would be significant for my future career. The following are a list of the websites that I looked for through these days:
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/cvsamples/Sample_Curriculum_Vitae.htm