Persuasive mathematics courseware design model for special need children

There has been a big growth on number of research of courseware design model for children with special needs. A lot of people interested in this topic. However, there is still lack of courseware design model for children with special needs especially in learning mathematics. Reviews from literatures indicate that content application such as courseware specifically designed to cater for the needs of children with special needs in learning is highly scarce. It is found that most of the existing content applications including courseware have focused on the needs of normal learners, in which most of this courseware means too little to the children with special needs learners with their own problem of learning difficulty. Across many courseware reviewed in this research, only two of them are for learning mathematics. Children with special needs required special module or syllabus that can fit in well with their impairment. Thus, this study aims at studying the core element needed in education courseware for children with special needs. In this study, six courseware components have been proposed; which are Structural Component, Content Composition, Design Guideline, Learning Theory, Learning Approach and Technology. To test the design model, some pre-tests and post-tests, observations and evaluations are conducted. The result of the test shows the improvement in their mathematical skill. In addition, the children have shown positive behaviour change in learning mathematics throughout the testing period. Furthermore, the result has also been acknowledged by expert as a useful learning tool for the children with special needs. In this study, MyMath has been proven to be an effective courseware for learning mathematic among children with special needs

Design model of basic Al-Quran learning courseware based on persuasive system design for toddlers

Nowadays, there are many courseware design models for learning basic Al- Quran. Previous studies on the models were developed for various ages. However, some of the components in the models are not suitable for toddler’s learning ability level. This research developed a courseware design model, MyFurqan for toddlers to learn basic Al-Quran. The process started with developing the courseware, evaluating the design model, and measuring the effectiveness. Based on literature review, this study proposed a new courseware design model, comprising six components, which are course content, design guidelines, learning approach, learning theory, multimedia elements and technology. Selection of these components was based on the design model Block Structure, which was used to develop the initial model for this research. From the model, a courseware was developed to test the components. Al-Furqan learning method was applied in the course content to introduce sounds familiar to toddlers. E-flashcard was used to deliver the learning content using multimedia elements. Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic (VAK) was applied to support toddler’s learning styles which consist of pictures, sounds and animations. The outcome/change matrix and persuasive principles were used as guideline to design in a persuasive manner. Mobile technology was applied as a learning platform to make learning process happen anywhere at any time. The quasiexperimental evaluation of pre-test and post-test were conducted to test MyFurqan by comparing the learning outcome in comparison to Al-Furqan Song. The courseware was tested on thirty nine toddlers aged between 18 to 36 months old. The results showed that the toddlers who used MyFurqan courseware achieved better scores in the post-test as compared to toddlers who used Al-Furqan Song courseware to learn basic Al-Quran

E-WayCool: Embedding IXD theory and representation concepts in teaching mathematics

This paper introduces the use of the theory of interaction design (IxD) and the concept of representation in shadow play, known as Wayang Kulit (WK), to teach mathematics.Drawing from the facts that there is deficient in performance of primary school children in mathematics, we proposed the e-WayCool as a means for natural developmental progress in learning the subject. For teachers, e-WayCool provides options for a different version of a digital teaching tool to support teaching mathematical operations, namely addition, subtraction, multiplication and division whereby prealgebraic concept is being introduced via the concept of representation.Ten actors of WK are utilized in delivering the teaching modules of the operations within the range of whole numbers ranging from 1-1000. Each operation is not mutually exclusive, but bound to a specific representation concept and activity scenarios.The results are discussed in terms of the interests and effectiveness of e-WayCool as a complementary digital tool for classroom instruction and, at the same time preserving the WK, one of the Malay endangered cultural heritages

Linguistic complexity of arabic language: a semantic analysis of antonymous homonyms in the holy Qur'ān

Homonymy, is one of the two main sub-divisions of lexical ambiguity that represents the complex nature of form and context of the Qur'anic Arabic which presents a challenge in the translation process. Since Qur'anic discourse abounds with homonymic expressions whose meaning is derived from the context, the translators of the Qur'an should undertake a demanding task decoding the intended meanings. The present paper aims at clarifying some linguistic complexities in some verses of the Qur'ān which may pose difficulty to translators of the holy book most especially those who are not familiar with antonymous homonyms in Arabic language. The reason is that antonymous homonyms are special features of the Qurʾanic Arabic language. It may be viewed as one of the stylistic feature of the Qur'an. Therefore, classification of these linguistic complexity is offered and the samples of these classifications from the Holy Qur'ān are mentioned in relation to antonymous homonyms. Samples of translated Qur'an are compared in order to ascertain the qualities of translations and English translation strategies of the stated verses

13th International Malaysian Educational Technology Convention (IMETC) 2019

For this year, a number of different organisations have come together to plan and execute this auspicious conference, with a hope that the conference will reach out to a greater audience from diverse backgrounds. Teams from Malaysian Educational Technology Association (META), Resource and Educational Technology Division (BSTP), Ministry of Education Malaysia and Centre for Instructional Technology and Multimedia (CITM), USM have banded together and planned this prestigious event, and this year, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia agrees to be the host. This year’s theme entitled ‘Inclusivity in the 21st Century’s Technological Teaching and Learning Environment’ is seen as timely, necessary, and consequential, as it envisions educators’ vital role in the future of learning. Technology alone is not enough to enhance students’ learning. This little fact has been largely recognised by educators and in recent times, we have seen an influx of initiatives carried by educators and governments around the world, providing instructive trainings and workshops to foster creativity and innovation in using technology, to not just deliver knowledge, but to also democratise the process of delivering the knowledge to a whole new leve

DATA ANALYTICS AND PERSUASIVE TECHNOLOGY TO PROMOTE STUDENTS’ ENGAGEMENT AND LEARNING

The use of interactive systems and internet technology nowadays enhance the process of learning as they allow educational resources to be effectively distributed and delivered to students. This gives students the opportunity to learn at their own pace and convenience. Hence, universities employ these computing technologies to aid in teaching and learning in order to meet the needs of diverse learners. Thus, students could engage in learning activities at any time and even outside the four walls of universities. Despite the usefulness of these systems, students find it hard to engage for a long time with these learning resources. They are distracted by so many activities such as chatting, playing games, listening to music, watching movies, etc. As a result, a wide gap exists in academic performance between successful students and unsuccessful one (those that drop out of universities). Therefore, there is a need for research on how to increase students’ motivation to learn. The level of motivation of students to learn and progress in their education determine the length of time they spend on learning-related activities. This research investigated the use of persuasive technology in encouraging students to spend quality time in their learning resources. Persuasive technology describes computer applications which change users’ behaviour or opinion without using coercion or deception. Specifically, this research examined the effect of three social influence strategies of persuasive technology (social comparison, social learning, and competition) on students’ engagement in their learning activities. Socially-oriented strategies recognize the fact that humans are socially-driven and thus, our feeling, behaviour or opinion is affected by that of others (social influence). The strategies were operationalized in a persuasive system as three versions of visualization using students’ assessment grades. The persuasive system was applied to a real university course-based setting to determine its effect on students’ engagement in their learning activities. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in determining the effectiveness of the persuasive system versions implementing the three strategies in motivating the students to engage actively in learning activities. The results of this research show that the three socially-oriented strategies of persuasive technology employed can be used in educational software to influence students to achieve a positive goal in their learning. Precisely, the persuasive system attracted and motivated students to spend more time in their learning activities

A professional agenda: An initial step toward enhancing the quality of teaching in University Malaysia Sarawak.

This paper was originally written as a proposal to the management of the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in the bid to enhance the quality of teaching on a university-wide basis. The recent quality assurance movement on teaching in UNIMAS is an important step to foster excellence in teaching and to eventually meet one of Malaysia’s visions of being a center for quality education by year 2020. Although teaching is one of the core businesses in institutions of higher learning, it is ironic that academics in many universities are not required to possess preparatory training in teaching, unlike schoolteachers. As a forwardlooking university, one of the initial mechanisms suggested in this paper is to conduct a workshop series to all UNIMAS academics. The workshop series comprise topics such as Introduction to University Teaching, How Humans Learn? Assessment, Instructional Design, Instructional Technology, and Learning from the Teaching Practice. The aims of the workshop series are to train the UNIMAS academics in teaching on a short-term basis, to initiate a long-term commitment toward excellence in teaching, and to develop a collaborative academic community that places special commitment to excellence in teaching. The required institutional commitment, the success factors, and the long-term plans for enhancing teaching at UNIMAS are also discussed in this paper

Conceptual model for usable multi-modal mobile assistance during Umrah

Performing Umrah is very demanding and to be performed in very crowded environments. In response to that, many efforts have been initiated to overcome the difficulties faced by pilgrims. However, those efforts focus on acquiring initial perspective and background knowledge before going to Mecca. Findings of preliminary study show that those efforts do not support multi-modality for user interaction. Nowadays the computational capabilities in mobile phones enable it to serve people in various aspects of daily life. Consequently, the mobile phone penetration has increased dramatically in the last decade. Hence, this study aims to propose a comprehensive conceptual model for usable multimodal mobile assistance during Umrah called Multi-model Mobile Assistance during Umrah (MMA-U). Thus, four (4) supporting objectives are formulated, and the Design Science Research Methodology has been adopted. For the usability of MMA-U, Systematic Literature Review (SLR) indicates ten (10) attributes: usefulness, errors rate, simplicity, reliability, ease of use, safety, flexibility, accessibility, attitude, and acceptability. Meanwhile, the content and comparative analysis result in five (5) components that construct the conceptual model of MMA-U: structural, content composition, design principles, development approach, technology, and the design and usability theories. Then, the MMA-U has been reviewed and well-accepted by 15 experts. Later, the MMA-U was incorporated into a prototype called Personal Digital Mutawwif (PDM). The PDM was developed for the purpose of user test in the field. The findings indicate that PDM facilitates the execution of Umrah and successfully meet pilgrims’ needs and expectations. Also, the pilgrims were satisfied and felt that they need to have PDM. In fact, they would recommend PDM to their friends, which mean that use of PDM is safe and suitable while performing Umrah. As a conclusion, the theoretical contribution; the conceptual model of MMA-U; provides guidelines for developing multimodal content mobile applications during Umrah