Is lifelong learning an essence to economic growth?

Lifelong learning is continuous learning throughout the life of an individual. It can occur through formal and informal means. Formal means are trainings, counselling, tutoring, mentoring, apprenticeship, higher education etc. While for informal, it refers to experiences gained etc. Malaysia view education as a vital agenda and priority platform to optimise the potential of every citizen and put within reach the promise of the Wawasan 2020 objective, to achieve zero illiterate rate by the year 2020 in Malaysia. This national endeavour will be in nought if the education system fails to produce human capital that can thrive in meeting the challenges of the 21st century innovation economy. It is believed that through proper and sufficient training and education level, one would be able to perform well in his or her works. According to Sachs (1995), learning new skills and acquiring new knowledge cannot be restricted to formal educational settings. Effective learning needs to be integrated into the work process. Training is often considered as a variable plugged into an economic model. This paper aims to discuss the significance of lifelong learning to an economy using economic growth theory of human capital and learning by doing. (Abstract by authors

The Open University Malaysia (OUM) Learning Management System (MyLMS): evaluating the effectiveness of online forum discussion for quantitative subjects

he blended pedagogy adopted by OUM for its open and distance learning (ODL) comprises three components; self-managed learning, face-to-face interactions and online learning through myLMS. The nature of online learning requires high commitment from the learners, especially self-managed learning and collaborative online learning. Learning quantitative subjects such as financial mathematics in a conventional environment is very demanding and it is difficult to grasp by a majority of learners, what more learning such subject through online learning. Interactions between the academic staff or tutors with the learners and also amongst learners are important. Thus it is critical that quality and effective teaching and learning progression take place in online forum discussion for such subjects. A study is carried out to explore the effectiveness of OUM’s online forum discussion for the subject of Mathematics for Management (BBMP 1103). The effectiveness of the online forum discussion will be measured based on the community of inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson and Archer, 2000). The effectiveness of online forum participation will be evaluated using the three essential elements in online learning process – teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence. The outcome of this study will be useful to facilitate effective and quality teaching and learning process for quantitative subjects via e- learning. (Authors' abstract

Towards Excellence in Higher Education –The Experience of Open University Malaysia (OUM)

With the advancement in communication technology via the Internet and World Wide Web, attention has been drawn to Open Distance Learning (ODL) as an alternative mode for teaching and learning. In Malaysia, OUM is well acknowledged as the pioneer for ODL education. OUM has placed great effort in leveraging ICT aimed at making higher education more accessible and affordable across the country. This paper will discuss how OUM has contributed towards the democratisation of higher education in Malaysia. The paper will also examine OUM’s delivery of online teaching and learning using the My Virtual Learning Environment (MyVLE)

A Comparative Study on the Effectiveness of Online Forum Discussion: Quantitative vs Qualitative Subjects

This paper compares the effectiveness of online forum discussion between quantitative and qualitative subjects offered to learners of Open University Malaysia (OUM). OUM adopted by OUM for its open and distance learning (ODL) comprises three components; self-managed learning, face-to-face interactions and online learning through myLMS to facilitate teaching and learning process. The nature of online learning requires high commitment from the learners, especially self-managed learning and collaborative online learning. Learning quantitative subjects such as mathematics or finance in a conventional environment is very demanding and it is difficult to grasp by a majority of learners compared to learning qualitative subjects such as management or marketing. The same problem existed in learning these subjects through e-learning. Therefore, interactions between the academic staff or tutors with the learners and also amongst learners are important. Thus, it is critical that quality and effective teaching and learning progression take place in online forum discussion. Community of Inquiry (CoI) is the most accepted model for online learning. The model as suggested by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) stated that online learning occurs through the interaction of three domains: teaching presence, social presence and cognitive presence. Research findings indicate that there the mean score for all the three domains of CoI are relatively the same for both quantitative and qualitative subjects. Social Presence was the highest (mean score of 3.55 and 3.60 for BBPP 1103 and BBMP 1103, respectively) indicating learners are comfortable interacting with their peers via online forums. (Authors' abstract

Widening Access for Education: Proposing a Conceptual Model for Integrated Open and Distance Learning (ODL) on Demand

The education world has seen a dramatic change in the mode of learning and teaching. Attention has been drawn to open and distance learning (ODL) as one method of educational instruction using advanced information and communication technology (ICT) as the enabler. ODL has become the means by which education can be accessed by all who so require, anywhere, anytime. Thus, ODL itself must be able to meet the “demands” of its stakeholders including learners and facilitators. There has to be in place a system that can support instant delivery of learning and guiding materials to learners and enables facilitators to guide and assess their learners both synchronously and asynchronously. Such a system should be holistic and dynamic in a way that it can cater ‘on demand’ any requests from the stakeholders. This paper proposes a conceptual model for integrated ODL on demand which can be utilised for the teaching and learning of a range of courses. The proposed model’s delivery mode would be based upon learning through visualisation, interaction, collaboration, exploration and a host of possible alternatives that can be replicated for any course carried out by ODL institutions including Open University Malaysia (OUM). (Authors' abstract

An Innovative Approach towards Learners' Assessment of Instructional Process (LAIP) in an ODL Environment

Despite its popularity, the use SET in assessing teaching effectiveness for the purpose of appraisal has been controversial. This paper quantifies the weaknesses of the conventional evaluation of the instruction process and SET as a tool for assessing teaching. In this respect, this paper looks into the possibility of developing an innovative assessment tool named as the Learners' Assessment of Instructional Process (LAIP). This method is operationalised using various scoring matrices. The objective of LAIP is to offer an innovative alternative solution to assessment of instructional process in higher education institutions. Three factors have been identified as core determinants contributing to teaching and learning effectiveness, namely, knowledge, pedagogical skills and attitude. More specifically, LAIP is aimed at achieving the objectivity in the assessment of the instructional process in an ODL environment. (Authors' abstract

Faktor-faktor kegagalan latihan dalam organisasi

The training program is one of the alternatives in order to produce a workforce that is competent, knowledgeable and skillful. According to Cascio (1989), training is a composed of a planned program where it is designed to improve performance at the individual, group and organization level. The failure of training will occur when employees is not able to transfer the training learned in the real jobs. Therefore, the purpose of this study are to identify the identify the factors that often lead to the failure to training, the effect of the training failure and how to overcome the failure of training in organizations. Case study method have been used in this study over seven (7) teachers at Sekolah Menengah Sains Sembrong, Kluang Johor through purposive sampling. Open-ended questionnaire has been used in this study which is divided into two (2) parts; part A (research question), part B (demographic question). Based on the results, majority of the informants stated that the factors are causing the failure of the training involved the three parties which is employees, organization and trainers. The study also found that all this three parties should play their role in the training to overcome failures. Through the information that has been collected from this research, it clearly showed a match between the findings and the objectives of this study

Web-based investor relations practices in Malaysian listed companies

The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed descriptive account of web-based investor relations (WIR) practices amongst non-financial companies listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. The extent of WIR was measured using an innovative disclosure checklist (known as WIR Index) consisting of 152 items overall, 102 for content, 33 for design, 7 for timeliness and 10 for interactivity information items. The result from 258 non-financial companies suggests that the extent of WIR is still limited. The mean for overall WIR disclosure is 40%, and 41%, 42%, 33% and 23%, respectively, of the WIR content, design, timeliness and interactivity dimensions items. The high degree of variation in the overall WIR and its dimension and lower score of the overall WIR disclosure items, indicates lack of corporate website usage for investors relations (IR) communication. The findings of this study could shed light on the extent of WIR practices and also provide an update on the current use of corporate websites for IR communication amongst non-financial listed companies in Malaysia. Hence, the findings should be useful to regulators and policy-makers to better understand and improve overall WIR practices by listed companies in Malaysia