Abstrak

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti profil stail berfikir dan stail pembelajaran dalam  kalangan pelajar jururawat di Kolej Kejururawatan Murni, Nilai Negeri Sembilan. Kajian ini  juga bertujuan untuk mengukur hubungan serta sumbangan stail berfikir terhadap stail pembelajaran serta kesannya ke atas pencapaian pelajar. Seramai 157 orang sampel yang terdiri daripada pelajar-pelajar tahun dua telah dipilih secara rawak. Data dikumpul menggunakan dua instrumen, iaitu instrumen Sternberg – Wagner (1997) bagi mengukur stail berfikir dan instrumen Grasha–Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS) digunakan untuk mengukur stail pembelajaran. Data kuantitatif dianalisis secara deskriptif dan inferensi menggunakan program SPSS versi 11.5. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan stail berfikir dominan ialah eksekutif, judisial, monarki, oligarki, anarki, global, lokal dan konservatif, manakala stail pembelajaran dominan pula ialah kolaboratif dan kompetitif. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara stail berfikir dan stail pembelajaran pelajar. Namun, tidak ada hubungan yang signifikan antara stail berfikir dominan dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar. Dapatan juga menunjukkan stail berfikir dominan menyumbang kepada konstruk stail pembelajaran kolaboratif dan kompetitif. Kajian ini mencadangkan skor stail berfikir dan stail pembelajaran yang difikirkan ideal bagi pelajar. Berdasarkan hasil kajian, beberapa cadangan diutarakan untuk membantu meningkatkan tahap stail berfikir pelajar dengan mengambil kira stail belajar yang diperlukan bagi meningkatkan mutu pengajaran dan pembelajaran dalam usaha melahirkan jururawat yang berkualiti.

Katakunci: jururawat berkualiti, stail berfikir, stail pembelajaran, pelajar jururawat, pelajar dewasa

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the profiles of thinking and learning styles of nursing students at Kolej Kejuteraan Murni, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. It also aimed to identify the relationship and contribution of thinking styles to learning styles as well as the effect on students’ academic achievements. The sample consisted of 157 second year students selected at random. Data were obtained through two questionnaires which are the Sternberg – Wagner (1997) inventory to measure thinking styles and Grasha–Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS) to measure learning styles. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statisctics with the aid of SPSS programme version 11.5. The findings revealed that the dominant thinking styles were executive, judicial, monarchy, oligarchy, anarchy, global, local and conservative while the dominant leaning styles were found to be collaborative and competetive. There was a significant correlation between students’ thinking styles and their learning styles. However, there was no significant correlation between the dominant thinking styles and students’ academic achievement. Findings also reveled that the dominant thinking styles contributed to the variance of collaborative and competitive learning styles. Based on the findings of the study, we offer recommendations to help increase nursing students’ critical thinking skills based upon their preferred learning styles that can inevitably help to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the quest to produce good quality nurses.

Keywords: adult learners, learning styles, nursing students, quality nurses, thinking styles

Abstract

Does animation play a role in learning? Compared to static visuals, multimedia animation is considered beneficial to learning, especially when the learning material demands visual movements. The emergence of three-dimensional animated visuals has expanded the presentation mode in multimedia learning. A case study on a computer science subject was used to test the effect of animation in learning. The field of computer science, especially in operating systems concepts, uses an array of abstract concepts such as virtual memory, paging, and fragmentations to describe and explain the underlying processes. Various studies, together with our own observations, strongly indicate that students often find these concepts difficult to learn because they cannot easily be demonstrated. This study investigates the effects of animation on student understanding when studying a complex domain in computer science, that is, the subject of memory management concepts in operating systems. A multimedia learning system was developed in three different versions: static graphics, 2-D animation, and 3-D animation. Fifty-five students participated in this study and were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. All participants had little prior knowledge in this subject. After viewing a lesson, they were asked to take a test that assessed their recall and transfer of knowledge. This test was used to determine if, in fact, improved learning occurred and the version of animation that produced the better outcome. An initial analysis of the results showed no statistical difference between the scores for the three versions, which suggests that animations, by themselves, do not necessarily improve student understanding.

Keywords: animation, 3-D animation, memory management, multimedia learning

Abstract

This paper aims to compare the components of a newly proposed Islamic-based teacher education programme (IBTEP) model with those of dominant Western and Islamic teacher education models. The purpose of this comparison is to determine the degree of model adequacy for preparing teachers who will ultimately implement educational curricula in Islamic-based settings. The paper bases its analysis on four notable teacher education models: two Western two Islamic. The Western models are those of the Teachers College, Columbia University, and of University of Wisconsin-Madison. The two programs were selected because of their established reputations and their programmatic commonalities that are also inherent in most contemporary Western teacher education programmes, which often utilise the Tyler Model. The two Islamic models selected are those of the Jakarta, Indonesia State Institute for Higher Islamic Education (IAIN) and the International Islamic University Malaysia with a heavier emphasis on the latter because of its predominance in teacher education among contemporary Muslims. This paper is aimed towards curriculum improvement or programme reconstruction, employs curriculum criticism and analytic philosophy as its tools, and exposes both the strengths and deficiencies of the dominant Western and Islamic models for teacher education through a newly proposed IBTEP. The paper examines and analyzes the deficiencies of the aforementioned dominant Western and Islamic teacher education models for teaching and offers an IBTEP model as an ameliorative proposal for best practices in teacher education.

Keywords:Institute of Higher Islamic Education, Islamic-Based Teacher Education Programme (IBTEP), teacher education model, teacher preparation for contemporary Muslim settings

Abstrak

Pembelajaran Berasaskan Hasil (PBH) merupakan satu pendekatan menyeluruh bagi mengurus dan mengendalikan proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran yang fokusnya adalah untuk menghasilkan pelajar yang berjaya mendemonstrasikan hasil pembelajaran  dengan berkesan. Penilaian dan pengukuran ialah dua aspek penting dan dititikberatkan dalam PBH bagi memastikan hasil pembelajaran kursus (CO) dan seterusnya hasil program (PO) dicapai. Justeru, satu kaedah yang menggabungkan dua kaedah penilaian langsung dan tidak langsung telah dibangunkan untuk tujuan tersebut. Kaedah tidak langsung dikenali sebagai Penilaian Kendiri Pelajar (PKP) dan kaedah langsung merupakan kaedah penilaian summatif yang menggunakan gred akhir (GA). PKP adalah sebuah instrumen untuk menilai pencapaian pelajar secara kendiri berdasarkan sasaran CO yang telah digariskan dalam setiap kursus. Di Jabatan Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Elektronik dan Sistem, PKP telah digunakan untuk mengukur pencapaian CO secara tidak langsung dan seterusnya dikaitkan dengan pencapaian hasil program (PO). Kertas kerja ini bertujuan mengkaji keberkesanan instrumen PKP serta pencapaian GA sebagai kaedah mengukur pencapaian CO-PO. Tujuh kursus yang ditawarkan pada Semester 2 Sesi 2008/2009 telah dipilih secara rawak untuk tujuan kajian. Analisis maklum balas PKP serta perbandingan dengan GA menunjukkan kaedah ini adalah kurang sesuai untuk mengukur dan menilai pencapaian CO-PO. Walau bagaimanapun, gabungan kedua-duanya didapati sesuai untuk memantau dan menilai pengendalian sesuatu kursus di mana perbezaan besar (>10%) antara keputusan PKP akhir dengan GA boleh dijadikan sebagai petunjuk keperluan melakukan penambahbaikan terhadap pengendalian kursus tersebut. Kesimpulannya, satu penambahbaikan diperlukan untuk memastikan CO-PO dapat diukur dan dinilai secara lebih objektif dan langsung.

Katakunci: hasil pembelajaran kursus (CO), hasil program (PO), penilaian kendiri pelajar (PKP)

Abstract

Outcome Based Education (OBE) is a comprehensive approach to manage and control the process of teaching and learning that is focused to produce students who have demonstrated effective learning outcomes. Evaluation and measurement are two important aspects that are emphasized in OBE to ensure that the course learning outcomes (CO) and subsequent results of the (PO) is achieved. Thus, a method that combines two methods of direct and indirect assessment has been developed for this purpose. Indirect method of the Student Self-Assessment (SSA) and the direct method of evaluation using the summative final grade e (GA) were used in this study. SSA is an instrument to assess student achievement in self-CO targets outlined in each course. At the Department of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Systems, SSA has been used to measure the achievement of CO and thus indirectly linked to the achievement of program outcomes (PO). This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of the SSA and the achievement of the instrument as a method for measuring the performance of GA and PO-CO. Seven courses offered in semester 2 2008/2009 were randomly selected for the study. SSA response analysis and comparison with the GA indicates that this method is less suitable to measure and evaluate the performance of CO-PO. However, a combination of both are suitable to monitor and evaluate the administration of a course in which a large difference (> 10%) between the results of the final SSA with GA can be used as an indicator of the need to improve on the handling of the course. In conclusion, an improvement is needed to ensure that the CO-PO can be measured and evaluated in a more objective and direct manner.

Keywords: program outcomes (PO), self-assessment of students (SSA), the course learning outcomes (CO)

Abstract

Many studies have focused on the decision-making styles (DMS) of managers, but very few have studied the DMS among academicians. Using the Rowe Decision Style Inventory, this study investigates the DMS of the academics in a public university in Malaysia. The objectives are to identify the common styles adopted by the academics and to determine their dominant styles in relation to their gender, age, faculty, qualifications, and years of service. This study employed a quantitative-questionnaire design that was distributed to 163 academics during an in-house training program. Four types of DMS—directive, analytical, conceptual, and behavioural styles—were identified with regard to gender, age, faculty, qualifications, and years of service. The results revealed that while the majority of the respondents have more than one dominant DMS, the conceptual and analytical styles predominate. Additionally, empirical evidence of variations in the types of DMS across demographic characteristics was found. These findings provide important implications for academics in making the most effective decisions within their profession.

Keywords: decision-making style, managing education industry, organisational decision-making, malaysian higher education system

Abstrak

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji perbandingan kemahiran generik pelajar-pelajar opsyen Bahasa Melayu yang belajar di sebuah Institut Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) dan Institut Pendidikan Guru Malaysia (IPGM). Tiga kemahiran generik digunakan bagi membuat perbandingan, iaitu kemahiran komunikasi, kepimpinan dan kerja berkumpulan.  Seramai 127 orang pelajar dijadikan responden kajian.  Daripada jumlah tersebut, seramai 77 orang pelajar IPTA dan 50 orang pelajar IPGM.  Instrumen MyGSI digunakan. dalam mengukur perbandingan kemahiran generik pelajar opsyen Bahasa Melayu ini.  Data dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif dengan menggunakan kekerapan, peratusan dan min. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa pelajar IPTA lebih banyak menggunakan ketiga-tiga kemahiran generik berbanding pelajar IPGM.

Katakunci: Bahasa Melayu, Institut Pendidikan Tinggi Awam, Institut Pendidikan Guru Malaysia, kemahiran generik, kajian perbandingan

Abstract

This research was carried out to study the comparison of generic skills among the Malay language option students from a Public Institution of Higher Education (PIoHE) and Teacher Training Institute of Malaysia (TTIoM). Three generic skills were used to make the comparison, namely the skills of communication, leadership and group work. A total of 127 students were selected as research participants. From this number, 77 were from the PIoHE and 50 from the TTIoM. The Malaysian Generic Skills Instrument (MyGSI) instrument was used to measure the generic skills among the participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency, percentage and mean. The findings indicated a higher rate of regularity of the three generic skills among the PIoHE students than the TTIoM students.

Keywords: comparative study, generic skills, malay language, Public Institution Of Higher Education, Teacher Training Institute of Malaysia

Abstract

The Student Evaluation Form (SEF) is commonly used to assess lecturers’ teaching performance in the classroom. However, there are concerns that events that elicit emotion, such as students’ grades, could influence their assessment of their lecturers’ performance. Thus, we conducted a study to explore the effect of emotion-eliciting events on students’ emotional states and their assessment of lecturers’ performance. A random sample of 69 low- and high-ability students (26 control-group students and 43 experimental-group students) from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Johor, participated in this study. Two sets of questionnaires were used: the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and the SEF. The findings of the study indicate that especially for those with low ability, emotion-eliciting events affected students’ emotional states and their assessment of their lecturers’ performance.

Keywords: emotion in learning, lecturers’ performance evaluation, student assessment

Abstract

Rapid changes in educational settings place pressure on teachers to update their professional knowledge and skills, which can be accomplished by their participation in continuous professional development (CPD) programmes. The notion that teachers are true lifelong learners implies that they should hold positive attitudes and values needed to excel in learning. However, information on how teachers value their learning is sparse. This paper examines the dimensions of value placed on learning by teachers who undertook further learning as part of their CPD. As professionals, teachers are workers; therefore, their learning context is inevitably career-oriented. Thus, a Learning Value Scale questionnaire was developed by adapting Super’s Work Values Inventory proposed by Super and Neville (1986). The respondents were 599 teachers categorised into four groups—three groups engaged in different types of learning programmes (Undergraduate (UG), Postgraduate (PG), and Generic), and the control group did not participate in any learning activities. The responses were subjected to Principal Component Analysis. Results show that teachers see learning in four dimensions which are conceptually meaningful for, or associate with, the values of Achievement, Humanitarian Concern, Status, and Career Security. Examination of individual item responses across groups reveals that items for economic and job promotion show a distinct difference between the UG and Generic groups. In light of these findings, the study discusses the systemic cultural factors that conditioned the teachers’ concept of the value of learning. This baseline data can help teacher educators to understand teachers’ identity as learners. The findings also suggest that policy makers should review their learning policy initiative, and teachers as implementers of education should reflect on their own practice of learning.

Keywords: lifelong learning, teacher learning, teacher professional development, learning value