The Soft Skill Elements in an On-Job Training (OJT) (Organisation) Assessment Rubric for Construction Technology Students in Malaysian Vocational Colleges

During on-Job Training (OJT), students are assessed by using the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric.  However, soft skill elements in the current assessment rubric are quite general in assessing students according to the job scope for Diploma in Construction Technology. The items in the current assessment rubric are not specific to assess soft skills of site supervisors which are important in the construction industry.  Therefore, this study aims to identify the soft skill elements for OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric for Construction Technology students.  The research design for this study is a survey that was carried out quantitatively through questionnaires involving contractors of G4 to G7 as the population of this study and administered to 180 contractors by using simple random sampling.  After document analysis and expert validation process, five items were selected to be the constructs of soft skills and 21 items were chosen to be the elements for soft skills.  From the Rasch Model analysis which referred to the Infit and Outfit values, one item was discarded which was Item C05 because it showed out-of-range values for both the Mean Square Infit and Outfit as well as the Z Standard value for Infit and Outfit.  This finding was validated by experts. As a result, only 20 elements were accepted to be elements of the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric. However, according to the item polarity analysis, all 21 elements were accepted to be elements in the OJT (Organisation) assessment rubric.  The data analysis also indicated that both item and person reliability were good. The five constructs identified from this study were communication skill, critical thinking and problem-solving skill, teamwork, ethics and professional moral and leadership skill.  In conclusion, this study was able to identify specific soft skills for site supervisors which could help to solve the problem of the general assessment elements in the current OJT rubric. Students may use these elements as a reference for job scope during OJT. Therefore, it is suggested to conduct a study for determining the descriptors for the soft skill elements

A scoping review on mapping the digital leadership constructs for educational settings: what we can learn?

Another style of leadership utilized in the field of education, notably digital leadership, has become more prevalent. Studies on digital leadership are receiving more attention, but there has not been much focus on scoping reviews. To determine the constructs of digital leadership, this study undertakes a scoping review. Accordingly, a scoping review on human-influenced and non-human-influenced constructs in measuring digital leadership was carried out in this study. This scoping review follows six processes: i) identification of the research question; ii) literature research; iii) selection of relevant studies; iv) charting the information; v) collating, summarizing, and reporting of study results; vi) discussion of the results and implications for future research. A scoping review was conducted via the Web of Science, Scopus, and Google databases to identify empirical studies on constructs in digital leadership since 2014. Next, the titles and abstracts for selected full-text articles were screened manually. Data from the included articles were charted and summarized. To develop specific and empirical data for measuring digital leadership, the study found that 22 constructs were influenced by humans and three constructs were non-human-influenced. Interpersonal and intrapersonal skills were separated from the constructs that were influenced by humans, with 15 constructs constituting intrapersonal skills and seven constructs constituting interpersonal skills. The results will help identify the crucial components of successful digital leadership. Future research is warranted in creating programs such as workshops, training, and conferences to promote digital leadership and further improve the study

The development of on job training assessment constructs and elements for construction technology students in Malaysian vocational college

On Job Training (OJT) (organisation) assessment rubric is widely considered instrumental in assessing Diploma in Construction Technology students with required competencies to function effectively in the work environment. OJT remains predominantly process-focused with little attention to the criteria in OJT (organisation) assessment rubric. The aim of this study is to develop constructs and elements for OJT (organisation) assessment rubric. The research design for this study is a survey that was carried out qualitatively through document analysis to identify the constructs and elements in the OJT (organisation) assessment rubric. From meta data analysis, 110 elements are identified to be the constructs and elements in OJT (organisation) assessment rubric. After the expert validation process using questionnaire form as an instrument, only 75 elements are valid to be included in the OJT (organisation) assessment rubric while 35 elements discarded. The majority of experts agreed that four elements are suitable to be constructs of soft skills, 5 items are suitable to be constructs of technical skills while remaining 66 elements divided into technical skills and soft skills. Based on the 66 elements, 45 elements are technical skills and 21 elements in soft skills. Therefore, it is suggested to conduct a pilot study for the reliability of constructs and elements of developed OJT (organisation) assessment rubric of Diploma in Construction Technology

Mismatch in Supply and Demand of Building Surveying Graduates' Skills: A Triangulation Perspective

The mismatch in the supply and demand of graduates is fast becoming a central issue for employee performance nowadays. A primary concern of this issue is a result of a higher competence demanded by employers, the change in the industry, competition among graduates, and new global economic practices. Enabling industries to lead curriculum development is one of the initiatives in enhancing the quality of the programme to improve graduate employability and producing quality technical and vocational education and training (TVET) graduates. Despite the various models that have been employed towards individual career development, there are problems of job skills mismatch and the lack of qualified graduates with technical and non-technical skills. Thus, this study attempts to clarify a mismatch in the supply and demand of building surveying graduates' skills from the perspectives of employers, lecturers, and the students. This study investigates building surveying academicians and the industryâ's perspective regarding building surveying graduates' performance, as well as to identify students' awareness towards the current industry demand. Data for this study was collected using a qualitative method approach that involved a semi-structured interview with 10 building surveying students, 5 lecturers, and 5 building surveyor practitioners; the non-probability sampling design that was used in this study was based on the snowball sampling technique, and a content analysis approach had been employed in the analysis of the data using NVivo 11 software. The findings indicate that there is a mismatch in the supply and demand of building surveying graduates' skills. This study offers an important insight into the building surveying programme towards the improvement of the programme's syllabus and its learning outcomes. The study suggests that building surveying graduates should acquire and demonstrate both technical and non-technical skills that are demanded by the industry. Further research is suggested to identify the competency level among entry-level building surveyor graduates in real working practices

Malaysian Nature Education in Preschool (MYNEPS) intervention : pre and post assessment

Malaysian Nature Education in Preschool (MyNEPs) is an initiative to incorporate nature education in the preschool syllabus. It involves learning and hands-on practice in a natural environment setting on five nature elements (climate, flora, fauna, insects, and microbes). This research aims to assess the efficacy of the MyNEPs module towards preschool children through pre-, intervention, and post-assessment. This research adopted an experimental research design using quantitative approaches. A total of 29 preschool children from Bangi, Selangor were involved in this study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics involving normality tests and paired sample t-test. The data normality was measured using the Shapiro-Wilk test, and the result indicated that the data is normally distributed where p=0.072 > 0.05. The overall t-test result shows significant differences (p=0.006) between pre- and post-achievement, with the total mean of post-test was higher with 35.90 than pre-test achievement with 33.59. This result indicated that this module significantly contributes to children's performance on nature prior to the intervention program. As a result, this study shows that the nature education program proposed has improved preschool children's knowledge of the natural environment. Nature education is essential to enhance creativity, problem-solving, and cognitive abilities, thus improving academic performance and setting a strong foundation for science and technology. Therefore, it is suggested that the MyNEPs module should be applied to all preschools premises in Malaysia