Design thinking mindset to enhance education 4.0 competitiveness in Malaysia

Education 4.0 will be the next aspect of the curriculum since programming has been taught from the primary school level. Training 4.0 requires teachers to equip students with not only the knowledge and information but also encourage students to be able to process information, develop creative thinking, and acquire problem-solving skills. However, the competency of teachers to encourage creative thinking and problem-solving skills is still questionable. The purpose of this concept paper is to provide an understanding of the conceptual framework for enhancing the teachers’ competency to enhance creativity and innovation in fulfilling the desire of education 4.0. design thinking is an innovative method that places people right at the center of problem solving. It discusses the variables that may affect the quality of teachers in education 4.0 and presents a literature review of approaches that can contribute to the creation of effective teaching methods to develop successful students and satisfy the demands of the workforce for industrial revolution 4.0. It is found that teachers need to be competent to build students' skills in meeting a competitive and innovative workforce in the wake of the industrial revolution 4.0. There are seven dimensions in the design thinking mindset that teachers need to understand to meet the 4.0 education requirements

Reflective practices to explore postgraduate students learning experience in mobile learning platform

Mobile Learning (M-learning) has great potential to be an effective learning tool in creating meaningful learning experiences. The purpose of this study is to explore postgraduate students M-learning experiences in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform. Reflective practice is used to measure the students M-learning experience based on mobile-based task-centered activity. This study is qualitative in nature employed thematic analysis method. Therefore, 34 postgraduate students from a public university in Malaysia were selected for this purposive sampling. The postgraduate students were initially introduced to M-learning course content in FutureLearn platform followed by reflective practices. Pre-reflective practice happened before students are enlisted into the M-learning process, During-reflective process in FutureLearn platform and Post-reflective upon completion of task-centered activity. The findings revealed that majority of these students were unsure of M-learning platform during the pre-reflective stage. This is due to lack of prior knowledge and experience in M-learning platform using mobile devices as real time hindered the students from exploring. However, most of them progress to gained positive M-learning experiences as their able to monitoring and self-evaluate their own learning development throughout this learning process and completed the task-centered activity successfully. Therefore, the reflective approach practice has given students insight on their meaningful learning experience and their own learning capabilities

Embracing a technologically enhanced environment: Postgraduate students’ learning experiences in mobile learning platform

The purpose of this study is to identify the postgraduate students’ Mobile learning (M-learning) experiences in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a platform. Learning logbook is used to measure the students’ real-time learning experiences in Future Learn (FLMOOC) which is one of the learning platforms in MOOCs. This study is qualitative in nature and employed thematic analysis. This study used the purposive sampling method in choosing 34 postgraduate students in one of the public universities in Malaysia. These postgraduate students were introduced to FutureLearn (MOOCs) platform. Daily and weekly based learning logbook were distributed to the students’ to express their experiences. Data were analysed using the thematic analysis method. The themes derived is device used and online course elements. Most of the students’ were not aware on Mlearning platform and students’ technology skills enhanced after gained actual learning experiences using own mobile devices for conclusive online course elements

The impact of course evaluation on instructors' teaching performance

An investigation of the university course evaluation scores over four semesters was conducted to determine the impact of the University Teaching Evaluation practice on faculty teaching performance in general and (1) to measure how instructors perceive the effectiveness of the University Teaching Evaluation Programme, (2) to compare the course evaluation results based on gender, academic rank, and faculty, and (3) to determine additional measurement methods for evaluating teaching in particular.The results obtained lead us to conclude that most faculty members did not believe that course evaluation is valid and reliable. However, most of them indicated that the course evaluation practised in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) has positive impact on them with regard to their awareness about their own teaching.Extraneous variables such as gender, academic rank, and faculty were significantly related to course evaluation mean scores.However, participation in the teaching certification programme was not a significant factor.Course evaluation, though believed to be lacking validity and reliability, was considered as good as some other more objective measures by the faculty members. There was also no evidence to suggest that improvement in course evaluation scores reflect better students’ learning. However, the questionnaire used may have captured not only some aspects of teaching effectiveness but also certain factors that are not related to teaching effectiveness.In conclusion, the course evaluation practice at UUM may not have produced better learning outcome as measured by students’ GPA, nevertheless, it has impacted positively on faculty members’ awareness about their own teaching performance

An empirical investigation into the role of enjoyment, computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy and internet experience in influencing the students' intention to use e-learning: A case study from Saudi Arabian Governmental Universities

E-learning as an effective educational tool has been integrated into many offered courses provided by higher education institutions. Throughout eliminating the barriers of time and distance, students' lifelong learning can be achieved. Due to a broad global attention given to e-Learning, various studies had been conducted by academe, different organizations as well as the government of various nations (Rosenberg, 2001). Saudi Arabian universities are among those universal universities that implement E-learning system. However, recent research indicated that majority of students in Saudi's universities are still unwilling to use online system. Therefore, many factors need to be determined in order to enhance the students' intention to use E-learning tools and participate effectively in their courses using the accessible electronic channels. The current study has extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to investigate the role of Enjoyment, computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy and Internet experience in influencing the students' intention to use E-learning in Saudi's universities. 402 governmental universities' students were participated to test the proposed hypotheses and to determine weather the proposed variables have an effect on the students' intention to use E-learning system. The results of step wise regression indicated that computer anxiety, computer self-efficacy and Enjoyment were significantly influence the students' intention to use E-learning while the Internet experience was insignificantly influence them. Furthermore, the importance of Attitude in mediating the relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and the students' behavioral intention was confirmed

An empirical investigation into the influence of image, subjective norm and self-identity on e-learning acceptance in Saudi government universities

Saudi Arabian universities are currently offering many online subjects and courses using different learning management system. While, the researchers claimed that the successful implementation of E-learning system needs more understanding of users' acceptance process and the related variables influencing this process. The current research explores and investigates empirically the extent to which social variables namely Image, Subjective Norm and Self-Identity influence the students' acceptance of E-learning in Saudis' Universities. The proposed variables or elements have examined with the students' acceptance using the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) as theoretical base in order to determine whether the proposed variables have an effect on the students' acceptance or not. The students' acceptance was measured by students' intention to use E-learning as independent variable on TRA theory. Questionnaire survey was distributed to five universities in different geographical locations.For hypotheses testing, liner regression results demonstrated that there was a significant relationship between the image, self-identity and Subjective Norm with the students' acceptance. The Attitude was significantly association with the students' acceptance. The paper concluded with some discussion of the findings key implications on both practical and theoretical prospective

What predicts attitudes toward computer?

The study was conducted to examine the status of computer use and attitudes among secondary school students.It also identifies the relationships among the variables and the predictors of computer attitudes.External variables (such as computer experience and frequency of use), perceived usefulness and confidence are included as potential antecedents of attitudes toward computer. Data was collected among 293 secondary school students in Kedah, Malaysia. It was found that there exist moderate to strong relationships between all the variables studied, with r-value ranging from .17 to .69. Regression analyses have identified confidence in using computers as the strongest predictors of computer attitudes, with R2 = .48. Other variables, computer experience, perceived usefulness and frequency of use also entered the equation, but turned out to be poor predictor of attitude toward computers.Discussion of findings and suggestions for future research are included in the text

A study on the implementation of remote learning: Malaysian students’ struggles and suggestions for improvement

This study seeks to explore Malaysian undergraduates’ perspectives on the implementation of remote learning in their university during the period of the movement control order (MCO). Since teaching and learning activities have been impacted by the pandemic, it is imperative to consider students’ perspectives on carrying out classes via the online platform as many studies claim that the pandemic has disrupted teaching and learning activities. A total of 1,028 undergraduate students participated in this voluntary study by answering an open-ended survey sent out to their student email addresses during the MCO period that restricted students and lecturers from going to the university. The qualitative responses from the students were critically analyzed for thematic patterns. The four themes emerging from the data provide future teaching and learning plans that should embed self-learning techniques that could aid students if a similar predicament should hit us in the future. Course instructors can use this information to design future lessons that could assist their learners better

Kajian kepuasan pelaksanaan sistem pengajian tiga (3) semester berbanding sistem pengajian dua (2) semester di Universiti Utara Malaysia

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti tahap kepuasan pelajar-pelajar Sarjana, pensyarah dan juga kakitangan pentadbiran terhadap pelaksanaan sistem pengajian tiga semester.Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kuantitatif melalui pengedaran soalselidik.Seramai empat ratus tiga belas orang responden terlibat dalam kajian yang melibatkan tiga kategori iaitu para pelajar semester A102, pensyarah yang terlibat dengan pengajaran bagi sesi A102 dan staf pentadbiran dengan pengumpulan maklumat berdasarkan jadual kerja, rekod sistem GAIS dan maklum balas daripada staf pentadbiran di Kolej Sastera dan Sains, Kolej Perniagaan dan juga Kolej Undang-Undang, Kerajaan dan Pengajian Antarabangsa.Soalselidik yang digunakan dalam kajian ini melibatkan dua bahagian iaitu bahagian A berkaitan dengan demografi responden dan bahagian B pula melibatkan soalan-soalan tentang permasalahan yang dihadapi terhadap pelaksanaan sistem tiga semester.Analisis statistik yang digunakan dalam kajian ini analisis deskriptif dan juga analisis inferensi. Hasil kajian ini mendapati bahawa pelajar menyatakan masalah utama yang dihadapi selepas pelaksanaan sistem tiga semester ini ialah berkaitan dengan masalah pembelajaran atau akademik.Bagi pensyarah pula, didapati bahawa masalah utama yang dihadapi ialah tidak dapat memenuhi tanggungjawab hakiki mereka iaitu dari segi pembahagian masa untuk menyelia pelajar sarjana dan Doktor Falsafah (PhD) dengan tugasan pengajaran dalam sistem tiga semester.Bagi staf pentadbiran pula, analisis mendapati permasalahan utama yang dihadapi ialah berlakunya pertindihan tugas dalam kalangan staf pentadbiran dan juga bebanan tugas yang semakin meningkat.Implikasi daripada kajian ini pelaksanaan sistem tiga semester telah menimbulkan masalah bukan sahaja kepada pelajar namun juga menimbulkan kesan kepada pensyarah dan juga staf pentadbiran