The Perception of Students and Teachers towards Using Myeconomics in Learning Principles of Economics in Vocational Colleges, Malaysia

Abstract

Principles of Economics is perceived as a challenging subject by Business Management students in vocational colleges in Malaysia. The nature of the subject, which is largely theoretical, encompasses mathematics, finance, business, psychology, and law proves to be demanding for vocational students who are more inclined towards hands-on subjects. They also seem to lack interest in the subject. As a result, students’ performance in Principles of Economics is considered average. To attract their interest, myEconomics is created which applies the concept cartoons. Using this approach, difficult concepts of economics are discussed in illustrative and relaxed manners so that students can grasp the gist of the ideas faster compared to when they refer to their textbooks which are in a textual form. This study aims to describe myEconomics and the perception of teachers towards using it in teaching and of students in learning Principles of Economics. When myEconomics was introduced and tested among teachers and students from 47 vocational colleges in Malaysia, the responses were collected by using survey and interview methods and the findings showed that myEconomics could serve as an instructional and learning tool for Principles of Economics in vocational colleges. This helps lecturers explain and students recall important economics concepts faster, improve and strengthen their understanding since they learn a challenging subject in a comical and colourful medium. On top of that, students will be able to gauge their own understanding immediately because myEconomics gives them the opportunities to access online assessments which have been prepared at the end of a topic using Quizziz. Interestingly, myEconomics is unique as it is written in Bahasa Malaysia, a language that is used to teach and formally asses the subject in vocational colleges. Therefore, it has the potential to be used as a complete reference for Diploma in Business Management students in vocational colleges when it has included all of the topics in Principles of Economics.