Associating sport skills through virtual games: an introductory approach

According to NORMA™ Engaging Multimedia Design (NEMD)Model, engagement is determined by levels. The model suggests that anything could be learned, mastered and acquired when a person reach a high level of engagement while interacting with a multimedia interface. An experimental study was con- ducted to prove whether this claim is true. A sport virtual game was chosen as a vehicle for this study. The chosen sport game must be one that is unfamiliar to the selected audience; in this case, children to ensure that the skills gained were because of the fact of engagement and not because of the influence of previous knowledge about the game. The purpose was to see whether playing an engag- ing sports game virtually, even though the game is an unfamiliar one, could influence children in acquiring sports skills when playing it in the physical world. The chosen sport game was Rugby, a not widely known sport to children aged 9–10 years old in Malaysia’s Primary School Education. The game is only introduced in Secondary Schools. In NEMD model, a game is engaging if the game can sustain users’ attention for a period of 2 h and more. There are two forms of data gathered. One, the recorded facial expressions and gestures of subjects to prove that the game is very engaging and another, the screenshots of skills of recorded performance in two contrasting spaces, virtual and real. In the virtual space, the children played the virtual game for a period of 2 h. In real-life space, the children played the actual game in the playing field. Data gathered have proven that an engaging virtual game could, not only, engaged children in playing the game but also assist them to acquire sports skills taught in real-life situations at a fast speed. The children were able to associate sports skills in Rugby such as scrum, swing, punt, throw-in, drop kick, tackling and catching when playing in the field. The game gave them a holistic view of the game thus enable them to grab meanings of these movements when introduced to the game much faster than the traditional

Pengaruh Bahasa Jawa dalam pembauran kod golongan muda Melayu berketurunan Jawa.

Kajian ini dijalankan adalah untuk meninjau dan menilai sejauh mana pengaruh penggunaan bahasa Jawa menimbulkan fenomena pembauran kod dalam pertuturan dalam kalangan golongan muda. Kajian ini meninjau sejauh mana bahasa Jawa diamalkan oleh golongan muda yang berketurunan Jawa di kampung Sungai Leman, Sekinchan, Selangor. Penulis juga mengenal pasti tempat-tempat yang menjadi kebiasaan dan kekerapan bagi golongan muda menuturkan bahasa Jawa serta mengemukakan contoh-contoh percampuran bahasa Jawa dan bahasa Melayu dalam perbualan seharian. Penyelidikan ini telah dilakukan melalui temu bual dan soal selidik. Kaji selidik dijalankan ke atas 40 orang responden golongan muda yang berumur 6 hingga 25 tahun. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa golongan muda pada peringkat rendah kurang menguasai penggunaan bahasa Jawa dan menyebabkan mereka mencampurkan bahasa Jawa dalam bahasa Melayu dalam komunikasi. Fenomena ini jika berlarutan dikhuatiri akan mengakibatkan kesalahan penggunaan bahasa, baik bahasa Melayu mahupun bahasa ibunda. Kajian ini penting bagi memberikan jaminan agar bahasa Melayu terus dimartabatkan seterusnya bahasa Jawa yang merupakan bahasa ibunda terus dipelihara dan tidak akan hilang penuturnya begitu sahaja. Kesimpulannya dapatlah dinyatakan bahawa penggunaan bahasa Jawa mempengaruhi fenomena pembauran kod dalam bahasa Melayu

The development of METAKU to support learning in hypermedia environment

The development of learning skills is not given attention in many classrooms in all levels of education in our education system today. We assume that students will be able to develop their own learning skills. The challenges students face in hypermedia learning environment need to be considered to help them learn effectively in this type of learning environment. METAKU is developed to assist students to apply metacognitive learning strategies, that is, planning, monitoring and evaluation during the learning process in hypermedia learning environment. This paper discusses the development of METAKU which employed the first three stages of a generic instructional design model - ADDIE which consists of the following stages: 1)Analysis, 2) Design, 3) Development, 4) Implementation and 5) Evaluation. In the analysis stage, the data was collected using a triangulation method done concurrently: a survey of student’s preference of studying online versus offline; a focus group interview to identify challenges they face and strategies they use whilst accessing and studying the hypertext materials; and a record of student’s interaction with the computer using captivation software. A total of 240 second year university students in two public universities in Malaysia were involved in this study. The analysis stage provides information for stage 2 and 3 where the data collected was used in formulating the content and design of METAKU. It is hoped that METAKU will be able to help students develop learning skills in hypermedia learning environment

Application of human computer interaction in developing an it-supported design collaboration process

Increasing globalisation and international collaboration have led to an increaseddemand for improvedcommunication within design collaboration processes. To address this issue, IT-supported design collaboration processes have been utilised, enablingprofessional design team members to work in a distributed design environment. However, IT-supported systems often lack human understanding, making such systems frustrating for professionals to use.The objective of this theoretical paper is to propose Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) integrated approaches that improve the interaction among professional design team members and collaborative technologies in a distributed design environment. This is particularly examined in the context of the building industry. For this purpose,this paper analysesthe related literature in design collaboration processes. This analysis is used toassess how earlier systems affect design team members’ capabilitiesto accept and use collaborative technologies.It is found that in addition to impacting the ergonomic and cognitive capabilities of professionals, a system should also motivate professionals intrinsically and extrinsically. The findings of this study are essential forpromoting the utility of IT-supported design collaboration projects.In addition, this study supports further research to increase the level of engagement in collaborative team work and mitigate knowledge loss in a complex project lifecycle

Revisiting an engaging experience to identify metacognitive strategies towards developing a multimedia design model

Looking at metacognitive strategies on the way children think when playing an engaging computer game could help designers design educational game courseware that engages children to learn. This paper will analyze the strategies children use in their thinking to overcome problems whilst still remains engaged when interacting with an engaging multimedia application, The Sims. The Sims is an Edutainment Multimedia CD chosen as a vehicle to discover more about engagement under varying interactive conditions and experiments. The CD was found to have features of what children want in a multimedia design for them. A theoretical model “An Engaging Multimedia Design Model” [1] renamed, after an extended research, The NEMD Model (Norma™ Engagement Multimedia Design Model) [2] was developed from this study using this application. This paper is a result of revisiting the recorded engaging experience the children encountered whilst doing the experiments to design, test, redesign, and retest the final form of the engagement model. A number of metacognitive strategies were detected during the interaction. Analysis of the metacognitive strategies used will help designers design multimedia game courseware that is engaging as well as educational for children

Turning a social character trait phenomenon into a diagnostic web-based measuring instrument using a grounded theory research method

The formation of proverbs and phrases into poetic forms with synchronised sentence structures and rhyming expressions through authentic dictions that are engaging and meaningful are the treasures of one’s trait and nation. For some race or ethnic groups it is through these classical works of wisdom that a race or an ethnic group could prevail and remain recognised transcends time and age . A list of 26 basic components of social character traits of the Malays was traced through maxims and literary work s of wisdom. The list of social character traits will just remain a list of compilation to be read and forgotten, just like many others written and compiled by other Malay literary scholars. There is a need to make this list scientifically proven. This paper discusses on how these components were transformed into a measuring instrument through a grounded theory research method. The end product was not only a web-based diagnostic instrument to measure the conformity and deviation of an ethnic group but also a formation of a new theory that could be applied to all other ethnics and related groups in the world today that are interested in knowing and preserving their social character traits

Hati budi Melayu: kajian keperibadian sosial Melayu ke arah penjanaan Melayu gemilang

Artikel ini menelusuri warisan sifat keperibadian sosial orang Melayu yang tersemai dalam hati budinya atau “psyche”, dan terjelma dalam tindak-tanduk, budi pekerti, budi bahasa, nilai, norma, pemikiran dan ilmunya. Hashim Hj. Musa (2008) berdasarkan kajian tentang puisi Melayu tradisional yang menyentuh tentang simpulan bahasa, pepatah, dan pantun Melayu lama, telah menubuhkan dua puluh enam (26) teras hati budi Melayu. Orang-orang yang menghayatinya pula dianggap mempunyai nilai etika, moral dan akhlak yang tinggi dan dipandang mulia oleh masyarakat. Mereka itu dinamakan sebagai orang ‘budiman’ iaitu berbudi pekerti dan adab sopan yang mulia, berbudi bahasa dan budi bicara yang santun, bernas dan berwibawa, dan berhati budi yang tinggi dan bijaksana. Namun sifat ini boleh terhakis disebabkan oleh sifat dalaman yang buruk, dan juga oleh pengaruh luaran yang asing, seperti yang pernah terjadi dalam sejarah yang telah menyebabkan kejatuhan kerajaan Melaka, dan dalam zaman kini muncul dalam pelbagai gejala sosial yang buruk. Demi meneliti keadaan hati budi orang Melayu, kajian ini dilakukan untuk mengukur sejauh mana keakuran atau penyimpangan teras hati budi Melayu dalam kalangan orang Melayu kini. Hasil penyelidikan awal menunjukkan bahawa orang Melayu masih ada agamanya, nilai murninya, hakikat ilmunya tetapi masih agak lemah dari segi didikan yang menyebabkan kerosakan dalam tingkah laku dan budi pekerti. Oleh yang demikian daya usaha pemupukan kembali 26 teras hati budi itu pada masa kini sangat mendesak demi menjana dan membina umat Melayu masa depan yang gemilang

Appropriate illustrations for appropriate functions : the taxonomy of illustration

Illustrations play an important role in depicting information. As we move deeper and deeper into the world of visualisation, illustrations play a vital role especially in the learning paradigm. More and more users use illustrations to convey messages or information to promote sales, to campaign an idea, to decipher a belief or teach a lesson because theories have shown that things that are visualised are learned more easily. Educationalists and many researches have supported this theory. Psychologists have found that people retain visual information longer than verbal information. It has been found that visual memories are more effective compared to all the different elements of memory such as radio, olfactory and tactile.Knowing appropriate illustrations for appropriate functions will help us get the right message across the right audiences at the right time and the right place. Therefore this book is useful to students in colleges or universities, editors and reviewers of printed and non-printed materials, beginners from the team of industrial and book designers; text designers and interface designers, graphic artists and graphic designers as well as those interested in making it right when it comes to visual representations

Children's preferences in design of multimedia application

Many companies have tried designing educational multimedia for children because they believe that multimedia has enormous potential. Despite having very good design features there are some that children like and some they do not. This paper is about children using multimedia. It is an account of children's preferences and was used as a scoping study to the development of a model on how to make multimedia successful. This research uses a grounded theory discovery led by children method. Twelve children aged 9-10, from a primary school in Lough borough, United Kingdom, were chosen to take part in this study over a period of three days using different sets of materials. Books were also included besides publicly available multimedia CDs to help children in articulating their preferences. The study was done in a natural settings slightly structured in nature. Findings from this study have revealed that not all multimedia designed for them is appealing to children and the criteria of success fullness is about engagement and being engaged. Unsuccessful design need an external motivation e.g. as instructed by teacher, parents, etc. for children to continue interacting with it. The preferences tended to be the driving force that influenced the children's behavior with the multimedia applications given to them. Some children tended to be engrossed by some features and distracted by others. Basically a multimedia has to be interactive to engage children. Children must be able to do something with it to make them engaged by it. Therefore it could be concluded that passive design, like just looking at the information on a screen, bores children