Implementation of Information Technology in Local Government in Bali, Indonesia

The adoption and implementation of information technology (IT) has been a source of interest for many people and sectors in developed countries. Research in this field has traditionally focused mainly on organisations in developed countries, without considering how these frameworks and models can be applied and extended to developing countries. This study investigates the adoption and utilisation of IT in local government in Bali.https://research.acer.edu.au/saier/1011/thumbnail.jp

A Multigroup Invariance Analysis and Gender Difference of Students’ Self-efficacy and Attitude Concerning Mathematics

This article aimed to examine multigroup invariance of Mathematics Self-efficacy and Attitude Scales (MSAS) and examine the differences of MSAS in term of gender. 1135 (630 female and 505 male) Year 9 students in Aceh, Indonesia were involved in the study. The invariance analysis was performed to investigate whether the items in the MSAS are behaving identically for Year 9 female and male students in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. The results reported the indication of multigroup equivalence of the MSAS between gender (p-value is not statistically significant or ∆CFI ≤ 0.01). An independent t-test indentified that students’ attitude concerning mathematics is significantly different between gender of students. Female students’ positive attitude concerning mathematics is higher compared to male students’. This study may be used as one of the evidences as for the needs to enhance male students attitude toward mathematics

Pre-service Mathematics Teachers’ Belief towards Mathematics; A Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The purpose of the study was to assess the construct validity and reliability of pre-service mathematics teachers’ belief towards mathematics. The analysis of this study started by proposing four alternative models. The alternative models were compared to obtain the best fit model and its validity and reliability were evaluated by looking at the factor loadings and the proportion of variance. Based on the factor loadings, the hierarchical model has moderate standardised structure coefficients from 0.272 to 0.658 which indicates that they have the stronger indication that the factors represent the unobserved construct. However, due to the model fit and the structure coefficients which are close and greater than 0.4, three factors reflecting the Teachers’ Beliefs about Mathematics construct were retained for further investigation.

Accountability of teachers and schools : a value-added approach.

Currently, there has been substantial interest, in Australia and internationally, in policy activities related to outcomes-based educational performance indicators and their link with growing demands for accountability of teachers and schools. In order to achieve a fair comparison between schools, it is commonly agreed that a correction should be made for lack of equity. It is argued that student performance is influenced by three general factors: the student background, classroom and school context, and identified school policies and practices. In this article the effects of these three factors on science achievement among students in Canberra, Australia have been addressed. The effects are discussed with reference to Type A, Type B, Type X, and Type Z effects. Type A effects are school effectiveness indicators controlled for student background. Type B school effects are controlled for both student background and context variables. Type X effects are estimated with student effects, context effects and non-malleable policy effects controlled for. Finally, Type Z effects invoke school effectiveness indicators, controlled for student, context, and all identified policy effects. [Author abstract

Two-level model of information technology adoption in local government of Bali

Recent advance in information technology has aroused much interest among policy-makers, the business sector, the media and the academic world in developed countries. However, very little is known about the obstacles to adopting information technology in developing countries, particularly the low-income economies. This research stems from the issues described above. A variety of factors may influence the adoption of IT in local governments. Those factors range from technological and institutional to personal, social and economic factors. These factors included not only the information on variables gathered at the employee level but also on questions regarding the characteristics of each organization involved in the study. Hence the data files contain information obtained at two different levels, namely individual level and organisational level. Therefore a two-level hierarchical linear model is used to examine the relationships among variables. [Author abstract

Suppressor variables and multilevel mixture modelling.

A major issue in educational research involves taking into consideration the multilevel nature of the data. Since the late 1980s, attempts have been made to model social science data that conform to a nested structure. Among other models, two-level structural equation modelling or two-level path modelling and hierarchical linear modelling are two of the techniques that are commonly employed in analysing multilevel data. Despite their advantages, the two-level path models do not include the estimation of cross-level interaction effects and hierarchical linear models are not designed to take into consideration the indirect effects. In addition, hierarchical linear models might also suffer from multicollinearity that exists among the predictor variables. This paper seeks to investigate other possible models, namely the use of latent constructs, indirect paths, random slopes and random intercepts in a hierarchical model. [Author abstract

Graduate-entry medical student variables that predict academic and clinical achievement

A hypothetical model was formulated to explore factors that influenced academic and clinical achievement for graduate-entry medical students completing their third year of university studies. Nine latent variables were considered including the students' background, previous successes with their undergraduate and postgraduate studies and their assessed ability to study graduate-entry medicine based on their scholastic aptitude and their interview selection scores. The academic and clinical achievement of 99 graduate-entry medical students were estimated by measuring their performance on two separate assessment procedures, a 150 item multiple choice examination and a 20 item objectively structured clinical evaluation (OSCE) test. These two assessments were taken across two years (to include two student groups) and were equated using Rasch scaling procedures. Models identifying causal pathways leading to academic and clinical achievement were tested using Partial Least Squares Path Analysis (PLSPAT). The study's results suggest that medical student achievement can be predicted by variables, which account for 6 to 22 percent of the variance of scores that assess academic achievement and clinical performance at the third year level respectively. The most significant predictors and those which had direct influence on graduate-entry medical student achievement were: (a) student gender, undergraduate grade point average scores, type of undergraduate studies undertaken, and where those studies were carried out that were related to the OSCE scores, and (b) whether or not the graduate-entry medical students had pursued other studies prior to undertaking the medical course and age that were both negatively related to achievement on the multiple choice examination. Measures of performance at interview and student scores for GAMSAT that were used in the selection process were not related to the performance outcomes assessed. [Author abstract

Family, learning environments, learning approaches, and student outcomes in a Malaysian private university

This paper presents the quantitative findings from a mixed methods study of students and faculty at a private medical university in Malaysia. In particular, the relationships among students’ individual characteristics, general self-efficacy, family context, university and classroom learning environments, curriculum, approaches to learning, and measures of students’ academic achievement, self-directed learning readiness and mental health at the student level. Data were collected from 392 students attending a private medical university in Malaysia. The findings from the partial least square path (PLSPATH) suggest that: (a) parental involvement continues to impact and influence student learning process, and related student outcomes, at the university level, and (b) a surface approach to learning is related to poor quality processes and outcomes and a deep approach to learning is related to high quality processes and outcomes

Examining the validity of different assessment modes in measuring competence in performing human services.

This article addresses an important problem that faces educators in assessing students' competence levels in learned tasks. Data from 165 students from Massachusetts and Minnesota in the United States are used to examine the validity of five assessment modes (multiple choice test, scenario, portfolio, self-assessment and supervisor rating) in measuring competence in performance of 12 human service skills. The data are examined using two analytical theories, item response theory (IRT) and generalizability theory (GT), in addition a prior, but largely unprofitable examination using classical test theory (CTT) was undertaken. Under the IRT approach with Rasch scaling procedures, the results show that the scores obtained using the five assessment modes can be measured on a single underlying scale, but there is better fit of the model to the data if five scales (corresponding to the five assessment modes) are employed. In addition, under Rasch scaling procedures, the results show that, in general, the correlations between the scores of the assessment modes vary from small to very strong (0.11 to 0.80). However, based on the GT approach and hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) analytical procedures, the results show that the correlations between scores from the five assessment modes are consistently strong to very strong (0.53 to 0.95). It is argued that the correlations obtained with the GT approach provide a better picture of the relationships between the assessment modes when compared to the correlations obtained under the IRT approach because the former are computed taking into consideration the operational design of the study. Results from both the IRT and GT approaches show that the mean values of scores from supervisors are considerably higher than the mean values of scores from the other four assessments, which indicate that supervisors tend to be more generous in rating the skills of their students. [Author abstract

Leaders and Employees’ Perspectives on Participative Management as an Empowerment Strategy to Improve University Employee Performance In Indonesia

This study examined participative management as one of the empowerment strategies to improve employee performance including commitment, attendance rate, and quality of customer services. This study was conducted to examine how participative management as a strategy influence university staff performance, and how employees and their unit leaders regard this relation. It involved leaders of the units and employees within the specified university structure in Indonesia. Results show that participative management is related with the increased employee performance, but this finding is perceived differently by university head leaders and their subordinates. The empowerment strategy enhanced staff performance through promoting positive work attitudes in terms job satisfaction, self-autonomy, tasks meaningfulness, and security. Differing positions influenced perceptions on those effects. Future studies are necessary focussing on other elements to pursue broader insights about the impacts of participative management system on performance