Determinants of Actual Usage of Computer among Mathematics, Science and English Language Teachers in Secondary Schools in Selangor, Malaysia

As we are heading towards achieving the goal of Vision 2020, numerous changes have been implemented in the system of education. Among them would be the paradigm shift from the traditional mode of teaching to one that is of the information technology based especially among the Mathematics, Science and English language (MSE) teachers. Numerous incentives were given to the MSE teachers to use the computer in schools but preliminary observations found that they are not fully utilizing these facilities. The aim of this study is to identify factors influencing the actual usage of computer (AUC) among secondary school MSE teachers. The factors investigated were attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, computer self-efficacy, job relevance, computer compatibility, subjective norm and teachers’ demography. A self-administered survey questionnaire was sent to MSE secondary school teachers in 65 schools in the district of Petaling, in Selangor. Out of the 358 questionnaires, a total of 318 (88.9%) valid responses were used. The data collected were analyzed using exploratory data analysis, statistical descriptive and inferential statistics (t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression) using the SPSS. Overall, the study found that the AUC among MSE secondary school teachers were at the moderate level. Meanwhile, the socio-demographic factors of main subjects taught and training in computer usage showed significant differences in means of AUC. Besides, the constructs of attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, job relevance, and computer compatibility showed significant positive relationship with AUC. The study too identified the best-fit model using the step-wise multiple regression and the best model explained 54.5% of variance in AUC. The most significant predictors of AUC were perceived ease of use, followed by perceived usefulness, job relevance, computer compatibility, and attitude. It is recommended that for MSE teachers to enhance on their level of AUC would need a concrete effort from the policy makers, school administrators, and teachers themselves. Future research is recommended to encompass a wider scope of constructs pertaining to AUC that incorporate among others financial incentives and type of school

Adapting towards climate change impacts: strategies for small scale fishermen in Malaysia

As with the global scenario, a number of climate change ‘symptoms’ are being detected in Malaysia. Local scholars have looked into the problems of rising temperature, rising sea level, extreme rainfall and extreme winds, which are causing coastal and mangrove erosion and degradation of marine resources. In turn, these issues are affecting the small-scale fishermen who rely heavily on weather stability to conduct their social and economic routines. This paper analyses six adaptation strategies, namely, reducing the risks associated with fishing routines, strengthening social relationships, managing fishermen's climate change knowledge, facilitating the community's learning of alternative skills, involving fishermen in climate change adaptation planning, and enhancing fishermen's access to credit. These suggestions are hoped to provide basis for concerned parties to develop adaptation strategies that are in line with small-scale fishermen's needs, abilities and interests

Holistic well-being of Japanese retirees in Malaysia

The current era of extensive use of information and communication technology and globalization brought the mankind to pay attention to the wellbeing of people as it is paramount for sustainable development of communities. Accordingly, numerous discussions were put forward to conceptualize well-being as such. Judging from the literature, holistic well-being is deemed as a better form of measuring well-being as it incorporates both objective and subjective dimensions. The aim of this study is to examine the holistic well-being of Japanese retirees residing in Malaysia. Data were collected from 278 retirees via a pick-and-drop method as well as face-to-face interviews. The findings show that the holistic well-being of Japanese retirees in Malaysia is 56.3%. Besides, the study has identified that these retirees scored as the highest the dimensions of communication technologies and lifestyle. On the other hand, the lowest scores got the dimensions of political and physical facilities. It is proposed that to further enhance the international retirement migration, particularly in the Malaysian context, political stability and good physical facilities are the pertinent factors that need to be emphasized

Exploring on transitional living spaces to improve quality of life of fishermen in Malaysia

Transitional living spaces are considered to be a short term accommodation arrangements that are designed to help individuals or families who are experiencing a period of transition or instability. Such living spaces are expected to lead them towards a more stable setting of living condition. However, the current architectural approach towards transitional living spaces or accommodations do not address properly to the needs of targeted user and are usually designed universally. Therefore, instead of improving the living quality of the users, due improper spatial quality of such spaces could even lead to lowering their standard of living. Hence, the aim of this research is to explore on the living condition of fishing communities in Malaysia and produce a design framework on designing transitional living spaces for them. This research is based on ethnography of qualitative methodology uses literature review. The results show a design framework on designing suitable transitional living spaces for fishermen in Malaysia. This framework will help to increase awareness on importance of transitional living spaces for fishermen which would contribute to improve quality of fishermens livelihood. This produced framework could be used for transit living spaces for middle aged fishermen

Ethical decision making in academic dishonesty with application of modified Theory of Planned Behavior: a review

This conceptual paper studies the application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TBP) in academic dishonesty with the mediating variable of ethical ideologies. The study reviews literature on the Theory of Planned Behavior and past studies pertaining to academic dishonesty. The paper analyses the relationship of the variables of TPB on academic dishonesty with ethical ideologies. A conceptual research framework is presented; it provides insight into predicting and understanding how academic dishonesty can occur. The framework suggests that ethical ideology is significantly strengthened by the application of TPB in understanding and predicting how academic dishonesty occurs. Given that ethical ideology provides guidance in judging right and wrong, duty, obligation and moral responsibility, it is an appropriate tool for the researcher, who needs better understanding to diagnose the influences of ethical ideology on unethical behaviour

Influence of neutralization attitude in academic dishonesty among undergraduates

Previous literature had proposed that individuals tend to use neutralization to motivate their decisions to engage in deviant behaviors. This indicated that even though students have strong motivations not to cheat may do so anyway after employing neutralizing strategies. Hence, this study attempted to examine the role of neutralization in influencing students’ attitude towards academic dishonesty. Students tend to use neutralization technique in order to free themselves from feeling guilty in engaging academic dishonesty. Besides that, it also attempted to study the reasons behind college student academic cheating behaviors. This study employed 620 randomly selected students from six different academic institutions. Results supported that students who engaged in academic dishonesty differ significantly from those who did not engage in this deviant behaviour with respect to their tendency to neutralize cheating. Results showed that cheating and neutralization were positively correlated among students. Through the findings, it showed that the use of neutralization techniques explained why students acknowledged that cheating is wrong but still chose to do it anyway

Preservation of the environment through sustainable agriculture practices: a case study on the attitude of crop farmers

Problem statement: Undoubtedly agriculture over the years has been a remarkable source of income generator for the rural community to achieve a higher standard of living and to live on par with their urban brethren that are mostly involved in industrialization. The quest for a greater income should, however, not deter farmers from paying attention toward the preservation of the environment in terms of protecting the quality of land, air and water so that our present and future generation will be able to have sufficient resources for their survival. Thus, having a positive attitude toward practicing the elements of sustainable agriculture without doubt will help farmers to emphasize on the need to protect the environment. As such, this study is designed to understand contract farming entrepreneurs’ attitude toward the preservation of the environment through sustainable agriculture practices and the issues involved in determining their level of attitude. Approach: The study employed qualitative methodology in the form of a focus group discussion and the data was collected from seven contract farming entrepreneurs in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. In the data collection process, the researcher played the role as the instrument and an interview guide that was developed prior to it enabled the researcher to achieve the objectives of the study. A couple of voice-recorders assisted in recording the discussion and it was later transformed into verbatim transcripts for data analysis. Results: The outcome of the study showed that in general, crop farmers face an upheaval task in possessing a positive attitude toward practicing sustainable agriculture in spite of having a sound knowledge about it. They perceive that much support is needed from the respective stakeholders that would enable them to embrace sustainable agriculture practices. Conclusion/recommendations: It is recommended that various stakeholders could play more important roles such as providing trainings to farmers and having a tighter control on prices of crops that will enable farmers to hold a positive attitude on sustainable agriculture practices

The potential impact of climate change environmental hazards on quality of life of fishermen community in Malaysia

Climate change is not a new phenomena and has already bring concerns to us. A lot of community groups have suffered from the impacts of the climate change. Farmers, businessmen, tourists, older people and children are going to be challenged like never before as climate change exerts a multi-faceted influence. Other than these groups, what about the fishermen? Are their social, economic and health aspects are going to be affected by the impacts of climate change? The answer of this question will fulfill the main objective of this paper which is to discover the climate change impact on the fishermens quality of life. This is a qualitative study where the data was gained through literature analysis and document analysis. Based on the analysis done, it can be concluded that the climate change will obstruct fishermen from doing their routine tasks, bring damages to their belongings, reduce the quantity and quality of the sea faunas which will affect their productivity and expose them to diseases related to malaria, skin problems, fever, flu, cough and other health problems. It is recommended that the fishermen in Malaysia must be socially and economically prepared so that they can face the impacts brought by the climate change

Acceptance of sustainable agricultural practices: the case of crop farmers

Problem statement: Agriculture for numerous years has been a source of income generator that offered wide opportunities for employment and enhancing the socio-economic status of mankind in many countries. Without doubt acceptance of agricultural sustainable practices will bring much benefit to the farming community especially in the long run to overcome the scarcity of resources and continuous income. Aim of this study was to determine contract farming entrepreneurs’ acceptance of sustainable agricultural practices and the issues involved in their level of acceptance. Approach: This is a qualitative study and the data was collected from a focus group discussion on seven contract farming entrepreneurs in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. The researchers played the role as the instrument during the data collection process and an interview guide assisted researchers to obtain objectives of the study. Data obtained from the respondents was recorded and eventually transformed into verbatim transcripts for the process of data analysis. Results: It was identified that contract farming entrepreneurs have a sound knowledge on sustainable agricultural practices and they belief it is vital for mankind. However, their level of acceptance is still not significant as they perceive that they still need much support from the relevant agriculture agencies. Conclusion/recommendation: It is suggested that all concerned parties should make the necessary sacrifices and put in more effort in ensuring that contract farming entrepreneurs will eventually embrace sustainable agricultural practices that will bring benefit to the present and future generations

Has the sea changed? qualitative on the views of fishermen in the east coast zone of peninsular

Problem statement: Pressure from the uncontrolled human activities had caused damages to our environment. The sea, as one of the environment components has also suffered from these activities. Fishermen, whom depend on the sea for their income and sources of protein, can be one of the groups who are suffering the most. This study intends to discover the perception of this group on the current situation of the sea, their perception on the quantity and the quality of the sea fauna, their perception on the possible factors that contribute to these changes and impacts of these changes on their socio-economic activities. Approach: This was a qualitative study whereby four in-depth interviews were conducted with the fishermen of the east coast zone of Peninsular Malaysia whom their main fishing area was on South China Sea. The data then were transcribed verbatim and analyzed. Results: Data gained had proven that the fishermen agreed that the current situation on the South China Sea was not anymore similar to their early day as a fisherman. The weather nowadays was ifficult to be predicted as there are changes in the trend of sea current, waves and temperature. They also agreed that the quality and quantity of the flora and fauna in their catching areas were lesser compared to the past. There are number of possibilities that can contribute to these changes which were illegal bottom trawling, foreign fishermen intrusion, climate change and fishing pressure. All of these according to them were affecting their socio-economic activities. Conclusion/recommendation: Based on the data gained, it is recommended that more monitoring programs can be conducted to reduced illegal bottom trawling activities; Program such as Rakan Cop which is introduced by Royal Police of Malaysia can be practiced among the concern agencies and fishermen. A number of programs to increase awareness among the fishermen on the danger of illegal bottom trawling activities, threats of the climate change and the importance for them to save usage of energy (eg: Fuel) can also be conducted. Some effective actions taken by other countries to overcome their fishing pressure might also have the potential to be practiced in Malaysia