Final Reflection

Dear Dr. Bali,

I actually learned that I am someone who will actually really interact and add input in class discussion but that was mainly because the class, the doctor, and my colleagues made this a healthy environment for sharing thoughts as I always felt heard. I took a lot of core classes; in fact, this is my fifth one and that is the most engaged I have ever been in a university class. I loved how inclusive and welcoming this class was to everyone. Whenever I think of this class, I remember us sitting in a circle and discussing a controversial issue or a video we just saw. For some reason, I remember when we discussed the issue of deep fakes and the video of trump with the Kaaba. This discussion was actually very useful as it will really help me in my future academic life as I learned what I should do to distinguish the difference between what’s real and what’s fake on the internet. I remember seeing an article and working in groups to checklist the requirements of it being real or not and it really got me analyzing. One thing that will really improve my social life is that I learned how to comprehend and understand people by learning to understand their language and background. This stems from the reading suggested by my colleague Yasser, which showed me how the languages shape peoples’ mindsets and how we could use it to better understand them. As for my career, personally, I think that the most useful aspect of this class is waking up and going to university at 8:30 . But for real, what is most important is that I learned how to adapt to the various tools we used in class such as slack and hypthes.is which really prepares me for what is to come in my career as I will have to learn to use and adapt to other tools rather than the ones I am already comfortable with.

ALT CV

I am not a creative person, but this has probably been the most creative I have ever been. I made an ALT CV which shows the person who I really am instead of what an employer would want to see. I talked about what makes me happy, what I am passionate about, what I do in my free time. It really gives an insight into the person who I really am, a person who loves traveling and exploring, who loves football, who really cares about his friends.

Wellness Gift Basket

This was probably my favorite assignment as I was brainstorming the things that make me feel well and take my mind off the hardships that I might be facing at any time such as working out at the gym or playing sports with my friends or reading the Quran. It was a very pleasant and fun assignment which showed me why this course is one of the best courses I have taken in my academic life.

Digital Literacies Pathways

This was one of the bigger assignments that we have all semester; however, it was one of the most beneficial work I have ever done. I learned about how I can utilize presentations to my advantage and learn about the presentation skills that I need. One of the most memorable things were how I should take questions as a presenter which was by

• Listening to the question
• Repeating the question back to the audience
• Answering the question
• Check to see if the question was actually answered.

Additionally, I learned about how smartphones work and how I can improve my usage by understanding the different operating systems used in the smartphones. Overall, it was a very beneficial and pleasant experience.

Overall, I believe that this has been one of the best courses offered in AUC as it is a very light and helpful course which was really the best one of the six courses, I took this semester. However, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, I would change the following 3 things:

1. I absolutely did not like that this was an 8:30 class and I feel like I would have learned so much more and done so much better if the class was a bit later in the day like maybe at 11:30 as I would have been more awake and more active during this time. However, I am to blame as I am not a morning person by any means; in fact, I have always been described as a night owl by everyone I know. Therefore, if the class was later in the day, it would have better suited me.
2. Honestly, this might upset some people, but I like my courses to have a very clear grade breakdown as in this course I really do not know if I should lose letter grades on my work or which assignment I can do or not do. I liked the fact that we got to grade ourselves, but I would still like a grade breakdown.
3. Remove the Soliya part of the course. I really did not enjoy my Soliya experience and I felt like it was the one part the I did not like about this course. I did not like that on my only vacation day I had to do this discussion panel. I do not want to get into it too much because I already did in my Soliya reflection.

The kind of person who should take this course is someone who is taking a tough semester as this class will really help them ease their mind off the coursework they have just like how it did to me. Overall, the course was a very pleasant experience and I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much Dr. Bali for your wonderful effort and for this great semester. Looking forward to visiting you in future classes inshallah.