Augmented reality to memorize Al-Quran for hearing impaired students: a preliminary analysis

Quran learning among the hearing impaired has not been given much attention and exposure. This is due to the difference in the learning method among the hearing impaired compared to the non-hearing impaired. In lieu with this, a preliminary study has been conducted by using a qualitative approach. An interview was conducted with five experienced teachers to identify hearing impaired students’ behaviours and the method used to learn Al-Quran. Meanwhile, an observation with the hearing impaired students was also conducted. The findings show that the Tahfiz Akhyar method is used to memorize the surahs of Al-Quran by orderly arranging the verses using numbers. The memorization technique is based on the teaching of Prophet Muhammad when He taught the companions to learn Al-Quran. However, the result shows that, there are still errors in arranging the verses of the surahs in the correct order using the existing teaching aid. Therefore, these findings will be used as a guideline to develop the teaching aid application integrated with the Augmented Reality technology to help hearing impaired students to memorize the surahs of Al-Quran.Keywords: Augmented Reality, Quran learning, Hearing Impaired, and Memorizatio

Practices and beliefs among Malaysian dentists and periodontists towards smoking cessation intervention

This study compared the attitudes, practices and perceived barriers among Malaysian dentists and periodontists towards smoking cessation interventions (SCI) for patients. A self-administered questionnaire, which covered respondents beliefs, practices as well as barriers and limitations towards SCI, were posted to 289 dentists from four Malaysian states and 35 Malaysian periodontists. In all, 236 (82) dentists and 26 (80) periodontists responded. More periodontists than dentists routinely record patient's smoking status at first visit (89.3 vs 19.1) (pp<0.001), recommend nicotine replacement aids (37 vs 16.3) (p=0.031), refer to smoking cessation clinics (40.7 vs 14) (p=0.001), followed-up smoking cessation with patients (70.4 vs 11.3) (pp<0.001) and described themselves as being committed to patients' SCI (81.5 vs 53.4) (p=0.013). Limitations faced by dentists as compared to periodontists in SCI were due to insufficient time (pp<0.001) and fear it will affect dentist-patient relationship (p=0.034). The findings in this study emphasize the importance of SCI and the need for further training in SCI among Malaysian periodontists and government dentists. Copyright Reserved © 2007 Sains Malaysiana