Malaysian Higher Institutions Research Articles

Unpacking place-based narratives: enhancing campus community participation in watershed conservation

Purpose The study aims to identify the evoked “sense of place” that the campus community attributes to a watershed area in a Malaysian higher institution, aiming to enhance their participation in watershed conservation. Central to this objective is the incorporation of the concept of a watershed as a place, serving as the conceptual framework for analysis. Design/methodology/approach This case study explores an urban lake at Universiti Malaya, Malaysia’s oldest higher institution. It uses diverse qualitative data, including document analysis, semi-structured interviews, vox-pop interviews and a co-production workshop, to generate place-based narratives reflecting the meanings and values that staff and students associate with the watershed. Thematic analysis is then applied for further examination. Findings The data patterns reveal shared sense of place responses on: campus as a historic place, student, staff and campus identity, in-place learning experiences and interweaving of community well-being and watershed health. Recommendations advocate translating these narratives into campus sustainability communication through empirical findings and continuous co-production of knowledge and strategies with the campus community. Practical implications The research findings play a critical role in influencing sustainable campus planning and community inclusion by integrating place-based frameworks into sustainable development and watershed management. The study recommends the process of identifying place-based narratives with implications for the development of sustainability communication in a campus environment. Originality/value This paper contributes both conceptually and empirically to the sustainable management of a campus watershed area through place-based thinking. It outlines a process for enhancing campus sustainability communication strategies.

Cultivating dental excellence: Advancing dental education in Malaysian higher institutions

Cultivating dental excellence: Advancing dental education in Malaysian higher institutions

A Qualitative Study on Malaysian Academics' Perceptions and Suggestions on Gamified Learning

This study explores lecturers' perceptions and suggestions on integrating gamified lessons in Malaysian higher institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the norm of traditional classroom teaching by accelerating digital integration amongst educators and necessitating the need to address classroom gamification. To further understand educators' perceptions, we conducted in-depth interviews with 25 lecturers. We thematically analyzed the interviews by following the steps undertaken by Braun and Clarke (2006) to identify the emerging themes. The findings determine that educators found gamification suitable in teaching and learning activities during the set induction, reinforcement and assessment of specific skills. Several misconceptions also evident in this study. We conclude that although educators are familiar with gamification, they have not fully utilized the strength of gamification.

Perception Towards Secondary History Curriculum Among Somali Students in Malaysian Higher Institutions

The objectives of this study were to detect whether the integration model is invariant across three different History curriculums. The essential purpose of this research was also to decide whether the hypothesized perception towards secondary History curriculum model fit the data. An ultimate sample size consisted of (n=350) participants was employed for this study. The second phase of data was analysed employing two software tools which were SPSS and AMOS. SPSS edition 16.0 was run for the entire descriptive process and EFA, whereas the AMOS tool edition 18.0 was employed to run the Confirmatory Factor Analysis to examine hypothesized model fit of the intended data. However, the predicted model result depicted that there are no significant variations among S/Somalia, S/Land and Punt land students the perception towards secondary History curriculum between them.

From Classroom to Community: Understanding Community-Based Learning Practices in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions

Community-based learning (CBL) integrates the classroom learning and the community learning, as a pedagogical strategy, equipping students thereby with the skills needed, especially personal and soft skills. CBL also promotes student volunteerism, experiential learning, and community-based research. The current literature describes the numerous impacts of CBL, yet it is not widely discussed (the clear guidelines), nor how to implement it. Thus, this paper attempts to discuss the elements of CBL and the potential benefits of integrating CBL, as part of classroom learning particularly at tertiary educational level in Malaysia, using soft-system methodology; as this method can be used to analyse the intricate human activity systems. This qualitative study involved five registrars, 20 lecturers and 121 undergraduates from five public universities in Malaysia. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data from the focus-group interviews. The findings showed that there should be six elements, in order for an effective CBL framework in Malaysian higher educational institutions. This framework would help to link between the courses’ learning outcomes, its andragogical activities and assessments for all CBL courses in Malaysian higher institutions.

Internationalisation of Higher Education Policy: Implications on international student withdrawals from Malaysia

This paper aims to present and briefly discuss policy documents focusing on the internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia and their implication on international student withdrawals. Numerous policies and guidelines have been developed by the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia to propel Malaysia as education hub in this region. However, the current statistic does not seem to support national goal to increase international student enrolment to 200,000 by 2020 or be an education hub of excellence. Existing literature indicates that there has never been any research that studies in detail on the issue of international student withdrawals from pursuing higher education in Malaysian education institutions. Therefore, an in-depth study is needed to investigate the current policy development process and their implication on the phenomenon of international student withdrawals from Malaysian higher institutions.

Investigating Students’ Attitude and Motivation in Learning English as a Second Language among Four Higher Institutions in Malaysia

The aim of this study is to examine the students’ motivation and attitude towards learning English as a second language from four Malaysian higher institutions. A random sampling of 471 respondents participated in this study. Using 28 items instrument, adapted from Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB), an online questionnaire was distributed in getting the data. Students’ motivational level is found to be high with (M=6.37, SD=0.77, M=6.10, SD=0.82). Additionally, the respondents are having positive attitudes in learning English (M=4.07, SD=0.48). With the findings, it is a hope that this can be a guidance for instructors to design a suitable lesson and approach to be used in the class.

HOW MALAYSIAN LECTURERS VIEW MOOC AND ITS CHALLENGES

This study addresses a relatively new phenomenon in the Malaysian higher education (Massive Open Online Courses) MOOCs and explored the perception of the Malaysian lecturers on the emerging online learning environment. A qualitative case study was adopted and fifteen lecturers were interviewed from a higher education institution in Malaysia. These lecturers are familiar with the blended learning approach. The in-depth interviews were further transcribed and thematic analysis were considered to identify the emerging themes. The study identified themes related to educational change, design of the instruction, motivational and challenging issues. The findings demonstrated that the lecturers were aware of the transition from traditional classroom teaching to the teaching in the virtual platform. The investigation also contributes to greater understanding of challenges of integrating MOOCs in Malaysian higher institutions. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications are discussed on how workshops should integrate certain aspects related to MOOCs that can be useful for the Heads of Higher Institutions and policy makers. It is hoped that these strategic workshops will increase the effectiveness of MOOC implementation in Malaysian higher institutions.
 
 Keywords: Higher education, MOOC, online learning, technology adoption
 
 Cite as: Annamalai, N. (2019). How Malaysian lecturers view MOOC and its challenges. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(2), 144-167. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss2pp144-167

Evaluation and Concept of Building Performance Towards Sustainability in Malaysian Higher Institutions


 The growing populations of students to higher institution is increasing year by year, therefore, it is important to ensure that the building is well functioned throughout its lifecycle. Inevitably, the educational process may be interrupted if the building experience a poor performance conditions, thus affect the students’ academic achievement. Many studies have proved that there is the significance in providing holistic performance in educational buildings that able to improve the students’ learning environment. This study is aimed to provide a new rating tool for building performance that is hoped to be used for Malaysia’s higher educational buildings towards students’ learning improvement.
 Keywords: higher institutions; performance evaluation; performance concept- learning efficiency.
 eISSN 2514-751X © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

Readiness for shared services in higher learning institution: A pilot study

Shared services are known as a great catalyst to drive a positive effect on the efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation. The aim of shared services is to streamline specific services in an organisation whereas those services had previously been managed in more than one of organisation's parts. Nevertheless, there is a limited indication of shared services in Malaysian higher institutions. Using quantitative approach, this paper describes a pilot study undertaken in higher learning institution that implements shared services initiative. The findings reveal that organisational readiness and employee engagement are positively related to employee job satisfaction in shared services implementation. Thus, organisations should diligently incorporate human resource approach in shared services planning.

Conceptualization of Educational Persistence within Malaysian Higher Institution

Psychological constructs have been empirically linked to academic performance (as measured by Grade Point Average) and its improvement. Focal amid these psychological constructs are Goal Orientation, Self-Regulated Strategies, Disposition to Persevere and Attention. However, researches have been dedicated on the relationship of a few of these variables to academic performance but have not been examined as a single framework incorporating the theoretical models of all these variables. This study thus investigates a composite integrated model of the above mentioned variables to assess the learning quality of students termed as Educational Persistence. Its attainment warrants the utilization of a questionnaire developmental model. This study conceptualizes Educational Persistence for Malaysian higher education based on Cohen and Swerdlik (2002) questionnaire development model.

English

This study examines the relationship between mentoring program and mentees’ academic performance using the survey questionnaires gathered from bachelor degree students in Malaysian higher institutions in Sarawak, Borneo Island. The SmartPLS version 2.0 was employed to test research hypotheses. Outcomes of this test showed two important findings: firstly, communication significantly and positively correlated with academic performance. Secondly, support correlated positively and significantly with academic performance. In sum, this result confirms that mentoring program does act as an important predictor of mentees’ academic performance in the organizations, where this research was conducted. Keywords: Communication; support; academic performance DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/islamiyyat-2015-3701-03

The Importance of Programming Paradigms to Manufacturing Engineering Graduates: A Case Study from International Islamic University Malaysia Graduates

Digital computers that automate manufacturing process are an important aspect for any manufacturing engineers in the modern world. Selection of the programming paradigm (PP), as well as the programming language (PL) that supports it, is crucial to ensure the correct ideas are being used to automate the solution of the problem. In current Malaysian Higher institution practices, various PPs and PLs courses are offered to current undergraduate manufacturing majors. An online survey was deployed to experienced manufacturing engineers from various manufacturing specializations in the industry. Graduates from one of Malaysias public universities, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) have been chosen for this particular study. From the survey, it has been found that almost 80% of the participants agreed that PPs are important for manufacturing graduates. It was found out that 90% of the participants were from intermediate (scale of 3) until poor (scale of 1) to express their ability to explain PPs if asked. Only about 10% are able to explain on PPs (scale of 4 and 5). The study concluded that majority of the manufacturing graduates from IIUM agreed that PP is an important subject to be taught in university. However, it was found the majority of the manufacturing graduates lack the knowledge and understanding of PPs and general PLs.

Post Choice Satisfaction among Nigerian Students Studying in Malaysian Universities: A Pilot Study

Purpose – This research aims at developing a conceptual framework and valid prepositions of the impacts of Nigerian students’ perceived expectation on perceived quality and satisfaction with Malaysian higher institutions. The result of this study will be used for a further research that will empirically establish the actual reason for the increasing influx of Nigerian students in Malaysia and how the stakeholders can best explore the inherent opportunities. Design/methodology/approach – The researchers primarily use qualitative approach and pilot study that involves detail literature reviews of academic literatures and industry reports on perceived expectation, perceived quality and student satisfaction. Findings – The extant literatures suggest that there exist positive relationship between perceived expectation, perceived quality and student satisfaction. The reliabilities of the proposed measurement instruments indicate valid internal consistency. Research limitations/implications – Given that this paper is based on qualitative approach, there is need to embark on empirical data gathering to validate the conceptual model. Practical implications – Evidence from existing literatures have established that for higher institutions of learning to achieve operational efficiency in their perceived service quality and student satisfaction, managements of higher institutions need to integrate high quality lecturers, reasonable cost of education, social orientation programs, modern facilities etc into their operations’ measurement practices. Originality/value – This research extensively review existing literatures on student satisfaction and measurements, specifically how it impact education industry. It primarily avails both the academic and higher institution’s management the benefits that are inherent in measuring the impact of perceived expectation on perceived quality and student satisfaction. The research finally proposed a model for future empirical testing.

Determination of the Impacts of the Existence of Public/Private Clinics (Mix) in the Delivery of Healthcare and Safety Services to the Employees in Nigeria and Malaysia under Healthcare and Safety Reform

Based on the assumption of most health expert, paramedics, health economist, reformists and labor/safety proponents is that, the healthcare and safety services can only be available to common man when the process is partially or fully mixed (public-private). That is to them, the private sector participation in healthcare and safety sect oral service provision is eminent. In the payment for healthcare and safety services it was concluded that, the relative efficiency of payments through private insurance scheme or its impacts on the efficiency of public sector is not debatable. It is also postulated that the private/public mix may evolve the possibility of reduction in administrative bottle necks, improve access at an affordable price, and ensure equity through the use of government control mechanisms. The target respondents were medical doctors, nurses, paramedics, human resource personnel and healthcare and safety beneficiaries in Nigeria and Malaysian higher institution as well as both public and private clinics. A random sampling technique was used. A log-linear and chi-square test was used for the analysis of the750 sample respondents in both Nigeria and Malaysia. The study revealed the following results/relationship between Nigeria and Malaysian National Healthcare Scheme and Safety under reform which show r=0.257 with p=0.000 which is less than 0.05, therefore significant, relationship between public control health and healthcare service delivery for safety under reform revealed r=0.164 and p=0.008 and 0.005 which is significant, so also as reform ensures efficiency in healthcare delivery services to employees it in turn ensures equity and safety of employees with r=201, p=0.006 and 0.005 therefore significant and finally control mechanism instituted by the government ensures access and equity improvement in healthcare and safety services to employees under reform.