Technology adoption in Malaysian schools: An analysis of national ICT in education policy initiatives

Educational change, particularly change involving the adoption of educational innovations, is a complex process. In Malaysia, the significant role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in promoting digital education is reflected in the national ICT in education policy. Nevertheless, studies in the Malaysian educational context have shown that the policy implementation resulted in varying degrees of success. Through a discourse analysis approach, this paper aims to examine the evaluation studies on large scale initiatives introduced to digitize the Malaysian education system, from the Smart Schools programme to the incorporation of the Frog Virtual Learning Environment in classroom. The rationale behind these top-down initiatives and how they affected the stakeholders at the micro level, namely, teachers and students, are reviewed and analysed. The analysis informs our understanding of the factors that contribute to the successful and unsuccessful implementation of these initiatives and guide the planning of future policies.Educational change, particularly change involving the adoption of educational innovations, is a complex process. In Malaysia, the significant role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in promoting digital education is reflected in the national ICT in education policy. Nevertheless, studies in the Malaysian educational context have shown that the policy implementation resulted in varying degrees of success. Through a discourse analysis approach, this paper aims to examine the evaluation studies on large scale initiatives introduced to digitize the Malaysian education system, from the Smart Schools programme to the incorporation of the Frog Virtual Learning Environment in classroom. The rationale behind these top-down initiatives and how they affected the stakeholders at the micro level, namely, teachers and students, are reviewed and analysed. The analysis informs our understanding of the factors that contribute to the successful and unsuccessful implementation of these initiatives and guide the planning of future policies

How to avoid ‘Christmas Tree’ innovations: introducing and sustaining the use of learning platforms in schools

This paper reports the results of a study investigating teacher stakeholder views of the range of leadership factors that influenced their use during the first two years of a new Virtual Learning Environment (Firefly) in a comprehensive school in London. The research was broadened to include ten schools in total. Implications are identified as well as suggestions for further research. According to much of the research reviewed, maximising the benefits of a VLE is dependent on how teachers perceive innovations in general. However, some evidence was found that leaders do have an impact on the take-up of technology in schools. The determination of the overall school leader to bring transformation and modernity to the school was found to have an effect on the uptake of initiatives that are expensive and risky in the sense that they rely on new skills and knowledge that do not at first seem relevant to some teachers. The process also involves risk because of the pace of technological change. This research aims to bring together the two factors: teacher perception and leadership of change. The aim is to help school leaders ensure successful take-up and sustaining of use so that innovations, that they introduce, are not short-lived. Key questions within the evaluation survey draw on theories of leadership and on findings from the literature review about technology acceptance. The research is summarised in a visual representation of how leaders can leverage their influence, both with the initial introduction and the sustaining of the technology, to avoid the ‘Christmas Tree’ innovation effect: in other words, a purely ornamental technology that quickly goes out of date or fails to serve its primary purpose of improving learning (Bryk, 1992, p. 7)

A conceptual framework for cloud-based collaborative online course provision.

The number of online courses offered worldwide by higher education institutions has been growing rapidly. There are a number of challenges and issues that may affect online course delivery and student learning such as the experience of academic staff and students with online courses, design of course structure, creation of suitable teaching resources, and the study culture. Collaboration between universities for the design and delivery of online courses can have many benefits. They include enriched educational culture, fostering of a collaborative environment, resource sharing, cost reduction, and enhanced quality of courses. Cloud computing can support collaborative environments due to its flexibility, scalability, reliability, availability and mobility, resulting in reduced IT costs. It can provide easy access to resources for both students and university staff. A mixed methods research approach was adopted to collect the views of academics and students with respect to cloud-based collaborative online course provision. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with academics from different universities to explore the issues associated with the cloud-based collaborative online course environment. Two questionnaires collected the views of both academics and students in greater depth from a wider perspective. A number of challenges and issues were identified for consideration and incorporation into a cloud-based framework for a collaborative environment. Such issues related to security, confidentiality, ownership, contract agreement, quality assurance, finance, culture and course development. These issues and others were grouped together into five elements, which are quality, legal, security, operation and education. A novel conceptual framework for a cloud-based collaborative environment was developed, which is based on five main elements, illustrating the relationship between them. A prototype was developed to test parts of the framework to illustrate some of its concepts and its utilisation in a collaborative environment. The framework and the prototype were evaluated by practitioners. The analysis of the views illustrated the appropriateness of the framework structure, grouping of the elements, relationship between the elements and the issues associated with each element

A framework for mobile-assisted formative assessment to promote students' self-determination

Motivation is an important issue to consider when designing learning activities, including mobile learning and assessment. While previous research provides evidence for the motivational impact of mobile learning, not many pedagogical frameworks exist for the design of mobile-assisted learning and assessment. The current study is grounded in the Self-Determination Theory of motivation and proposes a pedagogical framework for mobile-assisted formative assessment, aiming at enhancing student motivation. For a preliminary evaluation of the framework, fifty-one students from a public European high school participated in a series of formative assessment activities. The tasks that were implemented according to the proposed mobile-based formative assessment framework had a significant positive impact on student perceived levels of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, enhancing students’ intrinsic motivation levels. Study findings highlighted the capacity of the proposed framework to guide the design of mobile-based formative assessment activities that enhance and promote student motivation. The study makes a theoretical contribution by proposing a framework that aligns mobile learning and assessment with elements of the Self-Determination Theory of motivation and also has a practical contribution by implementing mobile learning and assessment practices that have the potential to promote student motivation

Located Lexicon: a project that explores how user generated content describes place

This extended conference paper explores the use and potential of location data in social media contexts. The research involved a series of experiments undertaken to assess the extent to which location information is present in exchanges, directly or indirectly. A prototype application was designed to exploit the insight obtained from the data-gathering experiments. This enabled us to develop a method and toolkit for searching, extracting and visualising mass-generated data for open source use. Ultimately, we were able to generate insights into data quality and ‘scale of query’ for emerging pedagogical research in learning swarms and distributed learners

A cloud-based collaborative virtual learning environment for the higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman.

Advances in cloud computing have made it possible for collaborative environments to be developed for educational services. However, some HEIs are still using traditional VLE tools which receive minimal utilisation by users mostly for uploading and downloading course materials. This study focuses on challenges and concerns that limit or even prohibit the use of a cloud-based collaborative virtual learning environment (CBCVLE). More specifically, this study considers the influences of Omani culture upon utilisation of CBCVLEs. A mixed methods research approach is adopted which includes a preliminary study, a questionnaire-based survey, and a set of interviews. The issues are identified by reviewing the related literature and the surveys and grouping them under five headings: (1) ICT infrastructure and services, (2) operational environment, (3) user’s experience and expectations, (4) factors affecting the use and acceptance, and (5) cultural influences. The findings indicate lack of sufficient ICT infrastructure and services, as well as insufficient financial resources in some higher education institutions for establishing their own ICT infrastructures. Moreover, the findings highlight users’ experience as an important influence for utilisation of CBCVLEs. Regarding the operational environment, a wide range of concerns and challenges are identified by participants in the surveys. A number of issues are found to have an effect on the use of VLE tools and collaborative environments. Factors affecting the use and acceptance of a CBCVLE are also identified and classified as motivators or deterrents. Most importantly, cultural influences are found to be critical and vital for the use of CBCVLE. Family, religion, language, customs and traditions and gender can have a critical effect on users’ participation in collaborative projects. The study’s findings contribute to a better understanding and promotion of high utilisation and acceptance of CBCVLEs. A novel framework is proposed which incorporates key elements and their relationships associated with a cloud-based collaborative environment. The framework aims to mitigate issues and factors influencing low utilisation and the acceptance of CBCVLEs

Multipseudopotential interaction : a lattice Boltzmann scheme for simulation of multiphase flows

In this study, a new pseudopotential Lattice Boltzmann (LB) scheme, multipseudopotential interaction (MPI), including boundary conditions is proposed for simulation of two-phase flows. It solves several drawbacks of available schemes such as being thermodynamically inconsistent with practical equations of state (EOSs), being limited to low-density ratios, not having an independently tunable interface width. The lattice interaction potential is described by a series of consistent sub-potentials. In theory, in addition to being intrinsically consistent with thermodynamics, the MPI-LB scheme is stable for a large range of density ratios (up to 106), and tunable for interface width. In engineering applications, the scheme is superior over the previous schemes of reproducing practical EOSs by removing the deficiency of creating unphysical potentials. The scheme is unlimited to implement the practical EOSs which can be expressed in a polynomial format. The scheme is studied and verified regarding liquid vapour circular and flat interfaces, Laplace law, Galilean invariance, and change of viscosity. Furthermore, the scheme is investigated for the effects of different wall boundary conditions on the hydrodynamics of non-ideal single-phase fluids. The suitable boundary condition is chosen based on density variation across the channel, and errors because of domain resolution, relaxation time, and compressibility

Measurement and Prediction of the Phase Behaviour of Carbon Dioxide, Alkane and Water Mixtures at Reservoir Conditions

Knowledge of the phase behaviour of mixtures of oil with carbon dioxide and water is essential for reservoir engineering, especially in the processes of enhanced oil recovery and geological storage of carbon dioxide. Both processes require versatile tools able to describe the global phase behaviour at reservoir conditions, which may include the critical region of the mixtures involved. For a comprehensive understanding however the study of simpler systems needs to be completed. In this work two ternary systems have been studied as models for (oil + carbon dioxide + water) mixtures. The first one consists of (n-decane + carbon dioxide + water); the second is a mixture of (propane + carbon dioxide + water). To measure phase equilibria at representative reservoir conditions, a new analytical apparatus has been designed with maximum operating temperature and pressure of 423K and 45MPa, respectively. The equipment relies on recirculation of two coexisting phases using a two-channel magnetically-operated micro-pump designed during this work, sampling and on-line compositional analysis by gas chromatography. The apparatus has been validated by comparison with published isothermal vapour-liquid equilibrium data for the binary system (n-decane + carbon dioxide). New experimental data have been measured for the systems (ndecane + carbon dioxide + water) and (propane + carbon dioxide + water) under conditions of three-phase equilibria. Data for the three coexisting phases in the mixture of (n-decane + carbon dioxide + water) have been obtained on five isotherms at temperatures from (323 to 413)K and at pressures up to the point at which two of the phases become critical. Similarly, for the mixture (propane + carbon dioxide + water), data for the three coexisting phases on four isotherms at temperatures from (311 to 353)K and pressures up to the same point are reported. The experimental work has been complemented here with a theoretical effort in which models for these molecules are developed within the framework of the statistical associating fluid theory for potentials of variable range (SAFT-VR). The phase behaviour of the three binary subsystems has been calculated using this theory and, where applicable, a modification of the Hudson and McCoubrey combining rules has been used to treat the systems predictively. The experimental data obtained for the ternary mixture are compared to the predictions of the theory. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the ternary mixture is carried out based on comparison with available data for the constituent binary subsystems. In this way, the observed effects on the solubility when the third component is added are analysed. An accurate prediction of phase behaviour at conditions far and close to criticality cannot be accomplished by mean-field based theories, such as the SAFT-VR equation of state, that do not incorporate long-range density fluctuations. A treatment based on renormalisation-group (RG) theory as developed by White and co-workers has proven very successful in improving the predictions of the critical region with different equations of state. The basis of the method is an iterative procedure to account for contributions to the free energy of density fluctuations of increasing wavelengths. The RG method has been combined with a number of versions of the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT), by implementing White’s earliest ideas with the improvements of Prausnitz and co-workers. Typically, this treatment involves two adjustable parameters: a cut-off wavelength L for density fluctuations and an average gradient of the wavelet function Φ. In this work, the SAFT-VR equation of state has been extended with a similar crossover treatment which however follows closer the most recent improvements introduced by White. The interpretation of White’s latter developments allows one to establish a straightforward method which enables Φ to be evaluated; only the cut-off wavelength L needs then be adjusted. The approach used here begins with an initial free energy incorporating only contributions from short-wavelength fluctuations, which are treated locally. The contribution from long-wavelength fluctuations is incorporated through an iterative procedure based on attractive interactions which incorporate the structure of the fluid following the ideas of perturbation theories and using a mapping that allows integration of the radial distribution function. Good agreement close and far from the critical region is obtained using a unique fitted parameter L that can be easily related to the range of the potential. In this way the thermodynamic properties of a square-well (SW) fluid are given by the same number of independent intermolecular model parameters as in the classical equation. Far from the critical region the approach provides the correct limiting behaviour reducing to the classical equation (SAFT-VR). In the critical region the β critical exponent is calculated and is found to take values close to the universal value. In SAFT-VR the free energy of an associating chain fluid is obtained following the thermodynamic perturbation theory of Wertheim from knowledge of the free energy and radial distribution function of a reference monomer fluid. By determining L for SW fluids of varying well width a unique equation of state is obtained for chain and associating systems without further adjustment of critical parameters. Computer simulation data of the phase behaviour of chain and associating SW fluids are used to test the accuracy of the new equation. Furthermore the treatment is here extended to model pure fluids and results are presented for a number of alkanes, carbon dioxide and water