Malaysian Community Colleges Research Articles

Developing a Micro-Credential Curriculum in IoT for Malaysian Community Colleges: Key Topics and Projects

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a crucial course in Information Technology programs, merging electronic circuit concepts with programming skills to create interconnected devices. This study aimed to design a Malaysian Community College micro-credential curriculum for IoT by identifying relevant theoretical and practical topics and mini-projects. A need for a micro-credential module with suitable instructional materials was identified, enabling learners to apply theoretical concepts through mini-projects. Using the Fuzzy Delphi (FD) method, data from 19 experts via semi-structured interviews were analyzed to design the Fuzzy Delphi instrument. This instrument was distributed to 30 industry experts and academic practitioners, who ranked the elements on a five-point Likert scale. Fuzzy evaluation to establish consensus for inclusion requires an average expert agreement of 75%, a d-construct threshold of 0.2, and an average fuzzy number of 0.5. Consensus was reached for six out of nine theoretical topics and nine out of 13 practical topics. “Fundamental concepts of IoT” was deemed the most critical theoretical topic with 97% consensus, while "basic connectivity of IoT hardware" was the top practical topic with 100% consensus. For mini-projects, experts accepted two out of nine theoretical topics and nine out of 13 hands-on topics. The top authentic projects were “Air Quality Monitoring” and “Smart Home Security”, with 83% and 80% consensus, respectively. This study lays the groundwork for developing learning outcomes and assessment strategies for a micro-credential course on IoT at Community Collegesto equip TVET students with industry-relevant competencies, thus making them more employable.

Malaysian Community College Graduates Employability Prediction Model Using Machine Learning Approach

Community College, as TVET institution under the Ministry of Higher Education, offers industry-relevant skills training to ensure graduates' employability in the global labor market. However, producing graduates who meet industry demands remains a challenge, and industries continue to face difficulties in obtaining skilled graduates. In Malaysia, there is limited research on predictive models for employability rates among graduates of TVET Malaysian institutions. This research utilizes Python to investigate the significant factors influencing employability among Malaysian Community College graduates, determined by a specific indicator of whether they will be employed. Our contribution lies in developing an accurate employability prediction model using machine learning algorithms such as Logistic Regression, Neural Networks, and Random Forest. The dataset used consisted of 10,427 instances and 14 attributes, from which six significant factors were identified. Among the models, Random Forest outperformed the other machine learning models, and hyperparameter tuning using RandomizedSearch further improved the accuracy of the model to 84.8%. This study aims to identify the most accurate and interpretable model, providing valuable insights for educational institutions to enhance their employability strategies.

Level of Implementation of The Lifelong Learning (PSH) Program in The Community Around Masjid Tanah

The government has released a large allocation to make the PSH program a success, especially for the TVET skills field. Certainly, the government expects a positive impact of investment in this continuous training to ensure the sustainability of the PSH program in the future. Feedback from the main customer, which is the local community, is a critical factor in the sustainability of PSH in Malaysian community colleges. Therefore, this study was carried out to find out and get feedback about the Masjid Tanah Community College (KKMT) PSH program in the catering and serving cluster for improving skills and generating income for the community around Masjid Tanah. The instrument used is an adaptation of the Community College Impact on Local Communities questionnaire that has been developed by the JPKK Research and Innovation Center (PPI). Descriptive and inferential analysis (t-test and one-way Anova) was carried out with the help of the statistical package for social science software (SPSS) version 21. The results of the study show that the level of implementation of the PSH program of the catering and serving cluster in improving skills is at a high level (? =4.57) and from the aspect of income generation is also at a high level (?=4.56). The findings of the study also show that there is no significant difference in the level of income generation of program participants based on gender (p=.218) and the level of income generation of program participants based on education (p=.128). This shows the importance of the PSH program in advancing the local community in terms of job skills and income generation for all levels of society regardless of gender and education level. The government needs to continue and strengthen PSH for the progress of all levels of society in facing this global economic challenge.

Harmonizing Hospitality Industry and Higher Education: Can Community College Compensate the Void?

ABSTRACT Mixed opinions on the need for higher education in hospitality studies remain thus far. Yet, a bridging notion that can potentially fill the gap has not been extensively explored. Therefore, this qualitative study attempts to present community college as the transitional element that could bridge the hospitality industry and higher education in Malaysia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to seek views from academics, program administrators and industry professionals on the Malaysian community college’s capacity in delivering hospitality graduates that fulfill the hospitality industry requirement. CIPP evaluation model was used to guide the study. The findings provide ample evidence that the community college has immense potential in bridging the hospitality industry and higher education although certain improvements are still necessary. Thus, this study also suggests a few recommendations that the community college can consider for the program future directions.

Students’ Perception on Flipped Classroom Approach in Learning Communicative English among Community College Students

Learning English as a second language has never been straightforward, especially when it requires the learners to speak in the target language during the lesson. Students have the tendency to keep quiet and refuse to communicate in English due to many factors. In encouraging students to speak in the target language during the class, many English language instructors have pursued new and interesting approaches. One of the approaches includes flipped classrooms. Flipped classroom allows students to learn the concepts of one particular topic at their own time and pace whilst spending the classroom session on hand-on activities. This study investigates students’ perceptions of using flipped classroom approaches in their Communicative English classroom. The aim of this study was to determine whether a learning approach such as flipped classroom had any influence over students’ attitudes and motivation. The participants of this study were 106 students at Taiping Community College. This study employed a quantitative research design via survey. Before gathering the students’ opinion, the participants had experienced the flipped classroom approach during the Communicative English lesson. After that, a set of questionnaires were distributed to the participants and data were analyzed descriptively. Results revealed that most students had positive perceptions towards the use of flipped classrooms and were highly motivated to learn and had positive attitudes towards the implementation of the flipped classroom approach. This study provides insights for Malaysian community college lecturers to adopt flipped classroom approach in their teaching, especially in the Communicative English lesson.

Youth Religiosity As A Mediator of The Relationship Between Psychosocial Factors And Positive Youth Development

The objective of this study was to investigate the mediating role played by youth religiosity in the relationship between the psychosocial factors of parental attachment, peer attachment, and institutional social bonding with positive youth development (PYD). PYD was based on the 5Cs (competence, confidence, connection, character, caring & compassion)model. This study involved a cluster sampling of 677 youths in Malaysian community colleges; their ages ranged from 18 to 23 years (M = 19.47; SD = 3.59). Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires. The findings indicated that youth religiosity fully mediated the relationships of parental attachment, as well as peer attachment with PYD. Religiosity also partially mediated the relationship between institutional social bonding and PYD. Hence the findings suggest that youth religiosity, which comprises ritualistic and prosocial behaviour, contributed considerably to positive youth development

EXPLORING STUDENTS BEHAVIOUR IN USING GOOGLE CLASSROOM DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: UNIFIED THEORY OF ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF TECHNOLOGY (UTAUT)

Covid-19 pandemic has become one of the reasons for online education became an important area to explore worldwide nowadays. Google Classroom has popularly chosen by online educators to empower the teaching and learning process. However, limited research discussed the student’s acceptance and students' use behaviour using Google Classroom among Community College students in Malaysia. Since the worldwide have been affected by pandemic covid-19, the educators need to run the classes online, including subjects that related to the technical and vocational. Thus, this study adapted the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to understand the relationship between the five predictors in the framework in creating the student behaviour to use Google Classroom application in the learning process. Data were derived from an online survey involving 293 students from seven Malaysian Community colleges and been analysed using Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS) version 26.0. Findings from this study indicate that effort expectancy is the most significant dimension that influences behaviour intention, followed by social expectancy and performance expectancy. In addition, student’s use behaviour has been significantly influenced by the behaviour intention and facilitating conditions support by the college lecturers. Although there is a moderating effect shown in the relationships between performance expectancy and effort expectancy, yet it not supported in the link of social influence with behaviour intention and facilitating conditions with students' user behaviour. The results provide useful insight on the acceptance and use of Google Classroom among Malaysian Community College students. It is hoped that results from this study can be used as a guideline for educators to focus on and strategize their teaching methods and adapt to a new norm teaching environment.

Potential of Problem-Solving Flipped Classroom Instruction in teaching Internet of Things (IoT) at Community Colleges: A Needs Analysis

Flipped Classroom enables instructors to spend more time for hands-on problem-solving instruction compared to the traditional pedagogical model which involves lectures. The purpose of this study is to determine the need for a problem-solving flipped classroom module to be designed for the STM3023: Internet of Things (IoT) subject offered at the Certificate level at Malaysian Community Colleges. A structured interview was conducted with 16 lecturers from 14 Community Colleges offering the subject to obtain their views on current teaching practices along with the challenges faced in the teaching and learning of IoT to entry level students. Participants were also asked about their readiness towards the flipped classroom following an orientation session on Flipped Classroom approach. The findings showed that lecturers mostly used traditional pedagogical models in the TVET settings such as lectures. Students usually followed instructions and merely replicate the hands-on tasks as demonstrated by their lecturers in class. It was also found that students were struggling with the subject due to their lack of competency in programming and grasping electrical and electronics concepts. Students were also found to be weak in mathematics and reasoning skills, thus making it a challenge to teach IoT to them. Therefore, a myriad of media, materials and application of real-world concepts may be required to aid lecturers to improve students’ achievement in the subject. The flipped classroom approach for teaching which gives more time for hands-on problem-solving instruction may be appropriate to support lecturers to overcome the challenges in teaching IoT.

Level of Readiness to Become Entrepreneurs among Lifelong Learning Programmes Participants in Malaysian Community Colleges

An entrepreneur needs to be physically and mentally prepared, with creative thinking skills, risk taker attitudes, as well as being a wise decision maker. Individuals aiming to be successful entrepreneurs need to have adequate entrepreneurial readiness with respect to knowledge, interests, motivation and abilities. The purpose of the research is to measure the level of readiness towards becoming entrepreneurs among participants of the lifelong learning programme in Malaysian community colleges. This research focuses on four elements of readiness comprising knowledge, interest, motivation and ability which were measured using a self-perception questionnaire. The sample for this research consisted of 236 participants from 305 students in the Lifelong Learning (LL) programme for Pastry making at Malaysian community colleges under the Ministry of Education. Data were analysed using mean and Kruskal Wallis test. The data analyses results show that the level of readiness from the aspect of knowledge (M = 3.67, SD = 0.58) is moderate, interest (M = 4.13, SD = 0.55) is high, motivation (M = 4.13, SD = 0.55) is high and ability (M = 3.8852, SD = 0.64) is moderate. No difference was found on entrepreneurial readiness between participants of different age groups indicating that age may not be a contributing factor towards entrepreneurship among pastry making LL programme participants.

Measuring the Efficiency of Community Colleges Using Super Efficiency Approach for the Case of Non-discretionary Factors in Data Envelopment Analysis with Sensitivity Analysis

Malaysian community colleges play a significant role in achieving Malaysia's vision to be a developed country in 2020. For this reason, their efficiency should appropriately be measured. However, their efficiency measurement using a conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is not appropriate since some of their inputs; e.g., entrant and enrolment students are non-discretionary while a part of output of their graduate employability is discretionary. This paper thus proposes an alternative approach of super efficiency slack-based measure for the case of non-discretionary factors in DEA. The proposed approach was used to evaluate the efficiency of 25 main campuses of Malaysian community colleges from 2012 to 2013. The results support the decision maker of Malaysian community colleges to discriminate and rank efficient and inefficient community colleges in the presence of both super efficiency and non-discretionary factors. The significance of inputs-outputs on efficiency status was tested by sensitivity analysis.

Career Transition Practice from Student Development Aspect: Best Practices in the Implementation of Special Skills Certificate Program in Malaysian Community College

Career Transition Practice from Student Development Aspect: Best Practices in the Implementation of Special Skills Certificate Program in Malaysian Community College

Youth religiosity as a mediator of the relationship between psychosocial factors and positive youth development

The objective of this study was to investigate the mediating role played by youth religiosity in the relationship between the psychosocial factors of parental attachment, peer attachment, and institutional social bonding with positive youth development (PYD). PYD was based on the 5Cs (competence, confidence, connection, character, caring & compassion)model. This study involved a cluster sampling of 677 youths in Malaysian community colleges; their ages ranged from 18 to 23 years (M = 19.47; SD = 3.59). Data were collected via self-administered questionnaires. The findings indicated that youth religiosity fully mediated the relationships of parental attachment, as well as peer attachment with PYD. Religiosity also partially mediated the relationship between institutional social bonding and PYD. Hence the findings suggest that youth religiosity, which comprises ritualistic and prosocial behaviour, contributed considerably to positive youth development

Developing a two-stage approach of super efficiency slack-based measure in the presence of non-discretionary factors and mixed integer-valued data envelopment analysis

An alternatve approach of super efficiency slack-based measure data envelopment analysis has been proposed to make the projection of an efficient decision making unit strongly-Pareto efficient. The approach however did not examine the simultaneous effect of non-discretionary factors and integer requirements on efficiency measures. To obtain more accurate efficiency measures, this paper proposes a two-stage approach of super efficiency slack-based measure in non-discretionary factors and mixed integer requirements. Both new factors and requirements were first integrated into the existing approach. The optimal solution of the proposed approach was then obtained by transforming its fractional form to a linear form. Thus, the scalar measures of the proposed approach can now deal directly with discretionary mixed integer input saving-output surplus and discretionary mixed integer input excess-output shortfall. The practicability of the proposed approach was tested using empirical data of Malaysian community colleges.

Efficiency and Productivity Changes of the Malaysian Community Colleges

The main aim of this study is to develop theoretical framework that can investigate the measurement of productivity changes in higher education sector particularly in the Malaysian community colleges institutions from 2007 to 2010. By measuring technical efficiency and productivity changes among community colleges in Malaysia, this study aims to address three main research questions related to the college community sector: a) What is the mean efficiency score of college community institutions in Malaysia? b) What is the total factor productivity (TFP) change for Malaysia’s community colleges institutions? c) Has the implementation of the National Higher Education Strategic Plan (NHESP) led to improvements in the efficiency and productivity of the college community sector? In this study, a non-parametric approach known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to the inputs and outputs of Malaysian community colleges to analyses empirically their technical efficiency and productivity. Furthermore, this study is also the first that intend to build theoretical frameworks that employ a comprehensive decomposition of the Hicks-Moorsteen TFP index, developed and explore the consequences of NHESP on productivity changes in Malaysian community college over the period of 2007-2010.

Phenomenological Study: Bilingual Teaching Classroom of Malaysian Community Colleges

The study of bilingual teaching classroom of Malaysian community colleges was designed for developing a brand new environment of teaching in a classroom. It was also to find the main factors that lead to this crucial phenomenon of bilingual classroom. This study has never been conducted among the academicians of community colleges and this is the first study invented by the researcher in order to help in creating new environment of teaching in a bilingual classroom and also to equip learners with good command of English language as to produce trainers who are proficient in the language. The targeted respondents of this study were several course content instructors from several different programs of Malaysian community colleges. Students from semester four undertaking certificate courses from various disciplines of studies were also involved in this research. Non-structured interviews, non-participant observation and note taking were the methods used in this research. The result indicates various answers given by the respondents from the interviews. The needs of the language for each classroom are highly depend on the teachers’ competencies of the language used instead of the learners’ needs. In a nutshell, the bilingual teaching classroom of community colleges can be evaded by practicing better approaches and methods in teaching.

Community College Students’ Perception Towards Digital Learning In Malaysia

Digital learning is an effective teaching method to enhance students’ learning experience. It emphasizes a high quality teaching experience and provides access to challenging contents, feedback through formative assesment, and self-learning opportunity at student's own pace. Therefore, this research had been conducted to identify students’ perception towards digital learning implementation and its suitability in Malaysian Community Colleges. 81 students from Certificate of Computer System and Support Programme in 3 Community Colleges in Malacca state had participated in this study. Method of analysis used in this study was descriptive and inferential by using a questionnaire as an instrument. The findings showed that the level of students’ perceptions of the use of digital learning was high and from the analysis carried out revealed that the level of appropriateness of the use of digital learning in Community College was also high. The findings also showed agreed that D-learning practices can improve the quality of their learning. The findings of this research could be a useful guide to the management and lecturers of Community College in setting up and planning for the strategy to improve the level of professionalism and availability of infrastructure, so as to fully implement the digital learning practice.

Entrepreneurship Education as a Catalyst of Business Start-Ups: A Study on Malaysian Community College Students

This study investigates the effect of entrepreneurship education on the Malaysian community college students’ inclination towards entrepreneurship. It is built on the previous study by Ooi (2008) which examined the university students’ inclination towards entrepreneurship. A sample consisting of 235 students were drawn from four community colleges located in the Malaysian northern region. The students were in the final year of their diploma studies in various disciplines. A survey questionnaire was employed to elicit responses concerning their entrepreneurship inclination and characteristics. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse respondents’ characteristics and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (SEM-PLS) was employed in determining the relationship among the variables of the study. The results of the study indicated that 51 per cent of the community college students would consider commencing a business as their future vocation, whilst 33 per cent stated that they are probably to start a new business venture after completion of their studies. This could be attributed to the effort taken by the community colleges in promoting entrepreneurship among students. The entrepreneurial factors: role models and the role played by the community colleges in promoting entrepreneurship showed a statistically significant positive influence on community college students’ decision to pursue an entrepreneurial career. The Partial Least Square – Multi Group Analysis (PLS-MGA) employed for moderating the personal background variables indicated no significant differences on path coefficients between the various groups across gender and working experience. An exception was the effect of role models on entrepreneurial inclination, which was significantly higher with those participants without working experience. Recommendations and future research direction are delivered in relation to the findings of this study.

Malaysian Community College Students Propensity to Venture into Entrepreneurship

This study was conducted to identify the tendency of community college students choosing entrepreneurship as their career. The sample selected across the entire study population was composed of 103 final year students of Malaysia Community College. Four aspects of the study are to identify students interests, the characteristics of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial knowledge and constraints faced by the students involved in entrepreneurial career. The approach used to collect data through questionnaires. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis using SPSS 15.0 (Statistical Packages for Social Science). Results showed that students have a high propensity for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial features high in them. However, for entrepreneurship students have a moderate knowledge of entrepreneurship and constraints for high entrepreneurship. Therefore, it is suggested that collaboration between government agencies involved in entrepreneurship, parents, community and community colleges can be strengthened to help encourage students to venture into entrepreneurial careers.

Potential of Twitter in Post-reading Activities Among Community College Students in Malaysia

Since its introduction in 2006, many studies have been made on the use of Twitter as learning tool especially in language classrooms. These studies, however, tend to look at the use of Twitter as language learning tool in the school, college or universities and rarely in the community college environment. Although it is one of the higher education institutions in Malaysia, community colleges do have vast differences with other institutions in terms of students’ educational background and learning motivation, lecture duration and semester, mission and vision and lecturer expertise. Thus, this paper describes a survey study using a Fuzzy Delphi method to investigate the potentials of using Twitter for post-reading activities among Malaysian community college students. The main focus of this study was to get experts’ consensus on the future of Twitter and its usage in language learning in the future for community college students. Experts consisted of experienced community college English lecturers and curriculum developers and academic specialists from the Community College Department, Ministry of Higher Education. Findings indicated that low level of Twitter usage among lecturers and students make Twitter as a learning tool rather vague in the future. This article discusses the reasons behind the moderate level of Twitter usage and the direction for future research in implementing Twitter in the language learning classroom.

Employability Skill Acquisition among Malaysian Community College Students

The objective of this study was to assess the acquisition of employability skills among Malaysian community college students. The sample size of the present study 325 students selected randomly. Employability skills were measured using an instrument developed by the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). The overall mean of employability skills among community college students was 3.63 (S.D. = 0.47). Thus, we consider the employability skills of community college students to be moderately high. Of all measures of employability skills, students scored the highest on personal qualities (Mean= 3.86, S.D. = 0.59). The lowest score was identified in the area of resource skills (M =3.52: S.D. = 0.55). Three aspects of employability measures were above the mean: basic skills (M = 3.66, S. D. = 0.59), interpersonal skills (M = 3.72, SD. = 0.71) and personal qualities (M = 3.86, SD. = 0.59). The three aspects of employability that were below the mean were thinking skills (M= 3.61, SD. = 0.62), resource skills (M = 3.52, SD. = 0.55) and informational skills (M = 3.55, SD. = 0.59). We also tested whether employability skills among students differed as a function of gender and work experience. The result of an independent t-test showed that there was no significant difference in employability skills by gender or work experience. We presented some recommendations for improve the employability skills acquisition among community college students.