Maximizing the usage of technology-enhanced teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English program in the Malaysian secondary schools system

This research is attempting to examine the effectiveness in the application of ICT （information and communication technology） and standardize courseware in ETeMS （English for Teaching Mathematics and Science） or PPSMI （Pengajaran and Pembelajaran Sains and Matematic dalam Bahasa Inggeris） in English program in the Malaysian secondary school system. Five dimensions of secondary school （type of school, demographic, leadership quality, teaching and learning culture, and teachers＇ personal and working experience） were examined to determine the maximizing usage of TEC （technology-enhanced classroom） in the learning program. In general, there is a significant difference among factors stated above with maximizing usage of TEC in teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English program. The learning culture is also closely related. In addition, the school and teaching staff are another two essential factors found to be the strong fundamental of maximizing the usage of technology in TEC teaching and learning with towering quality. This study represents an addition to the extant literature on maximizing the usage of technology-enhanced teaching and learning towards the excellence of education in the secondary school system. The maximizing usage of TEC teaching and learning environment within the secondary school system is pivotal towards achieving high quality human capital and improving the efficiency and integrity of technology-enhanced learning of science and mathematics in English program. This study provides further groundwork to assist existing education managers to improve work quality and deliver the maximizing usage of TEC teaching and learning towards the excellence in secondary education.     

Designing an Affordable Usability Test for E‐Learning Modules

ABSTRACT: This article provides background and an introduction to a user‐centered design and usability test in an inexpensive format that allows content experts who are novices in e‐learning development to perform testing on newly developed technical training modules prior to their release. The use of a small number of test participants, avoidance of elaborate testing laboratories, and the establishment of clear, concise objectives with a detailed test outline are supported by the discount usability testing approach. This approach reduces testing cost, provides faster results, and yields a more successful product and increased customer satisfaction. Discount usability testing should have broad appeal to new e‐learning developers as a final step before releasing their newly developed training modules.     

Academicians＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning curriculum instructional design in Malaysian public tertiary education

This research is attempted to examine universities＇ academic staffs＇ curriculum instructional design in the teaching and learning process in applying the technology enhanced classroom （TEC） learning. The universities have embarked on a costly project to create an innovative and creative learning and teaching environment to promote and establish a state-of-the-art, smart, efficient, effective and high quality education. The teaching and learning culture of universities have great influence on determining the level of students＇ achievement. Seven dimensions of public universities in Malaysia were examined to determine the percentage of academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning. There is a significant difference among factors concerning the academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in their teaching and learning processes in the classroom management. Their self-preparedness in using the provided technology is closely related to the experiences and practicality of the teaching materials. This study represents an addition to the extant literature on universities＇ academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in the application of TEC learning. Academic staffs＇ self-efficacy in using TEC learning instructional design is of the utmost important to disseminate knowledge to students, which will also fully help utilize the government＇s effort in providing technology to the additional instructional design, so as to achieve high quality education and technological enhance education to pave the way to achieve a techno-education environment for all public universities in Malaysia. This study provides furtber groundwork to assist existing tertiary educational managers to improve smart teaching and learning environment and to retain high quality academic staffs in the day-to-day classroom curriculum.     

Towards a hybrid conceptualisation of Chinese women primary school teachers' changing femininities – a case study of Hong Kong

In this paper, I posit a hybrid conceptualisation of women teachers' identities in the globalising and localising negotiation of gender. Drawing on Homi Bhabha's theory of hybridities, this paper argues for a fluid, hybrid and multifaceted reality of women teachers' lives in the areas of family, the husband and wife relationship, and the place of the child in the family as they engage in workplaces. The analysis draws on in‐depth interviews with 20 Chinese women primary school teachers first individually and then in groups of four or five in Hong Kong where globalisation meets with the indigenous Chinese culture. Implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Web-based video and frame theory in the professional development of teachers: some implications for distance education

This study explores the use of video vignettes as a tool for the professional development of teachers. It is postulated that teachers' professional frames prime them to view vignettes through multiple “lenses,” and that teachers may not recognize exemplary practice when presented with it. Think-aloud and interview data are collected as 11 pre-service and 11 experienced teachers observe exemplary astronomy teaching video vignettes. Quantitative analyses suggest that teachers rarely recognized the exemplary qualities of practice presented to them. Furthermore, teaching experience significantly influences the type of lens through which a teacher will observe exemplary practice vignettes. There is also some evidence to suggest that priming teachers with instructions may be helpful. Implications for the design of video on the Web are discussed.     

Correlates of Chinese kindergarteners’ word reading and writing: the unique role of copying skills?

Ninety-four Mainland Chinese children in the second and third years of kindergarten (mean age = 65 months, SD = 6.94) were tested on Pinyin letter-name knowledge, invented Pinyin spelling, general copying skills of unfamiliar print (in Korean, Hebrew and Vietnamese, ultimately combined to create a pure copying factor), delayed copying of characters, nonverbal reasoning, vocabulary knowledge, speeded number-naming, syllable deletion, and morphological awareness in order to examine unique correlates of beginning Chinese word reading and writing, which were also tested. With age, kindergarten level, and nonverbal reasoning statistically controlled, morphological awareness, speeded naming, and Pinyin letter-name knowledge uniquely explained Chinese word reading, whereas both the pure copying factor and delayed copying independently explained 11 and 5 % variance in Chinese word writing, respectively. Findings suggest a somewhat independent trajectory of developing word reading and writing skills in very young Chinese children and highlight the potential importance of both print-dependent and print-independent copying skills for the development of early word writing skill in Chinese.     

Algebraic manipulation as motion within a landscape

We show that students rearranging the terms of a mathematical equation in order to separate variables prior to integration use gestures and speech to manipulate the mathematical terms on the page. They treat the terms of the equation as physical objects in a landscape, capable of being moved around. We analyze our results within the tradition of embodied cognition and use conceptual metaphors such as the path-source-goal schema and the idea of fictive motion. We find that students solving the problem correctly and efficiently do not use overt mathematical language like multiplication or division. Instead, their gestures and ambiguous speech of moving are the only algebra used at that moment.     

Home Away from Home: Acclimatization of Filipino Elderly from being Home to a Sense of being “At Home” in an Elderly Institution

This grounded study examined the process of acclimatization or the process of changing perspectives of a person so as to get used to or feel “at home” among a select group of Filipino elderly in a nursing care facility. As institutionalization of the elderly is not typical in the Philippine context, varied responses were analyzed to understand the factors and the course that an elderly person undergoes over a set period of time to achieve acclimatization. Twenty elderly (n = 20) residents were purposively recruited and subjected to an in-depth interview that chronicled their experiences on their previous and present lives and on the process by which they were able to adjust to a relatively new setting. Preliminarily, a robotfoto was devised to obtain demographic data including visitation frequencies and familial relationships, and this was followed by an in-depth interview. Through the constant comparison method, an interesting model called the Hourglass of Acclimatization emerged. This model yielded two distinct phases contributing to successful acclimatization. One is the Conversion phase, or imbibing the main notion of transforming one's perspectives of him or herself and his or her environment; there is also the Immersion phase, which describes how an elderly involves him or herself completely into the life he or she is supposed to live. This emerged model can contribute to the development of nursing interventions focusing on elderly experiences in the entire course of relocation to a new environment other than what they call “home.”     

A Comparison of Phonological Awareness,Lexical Compounding,and Homophone Training for Chinese Word Reading in Hong Kong Kindergartners

Research Findings: In this study, 88 kindergartners received special training in lexical compounding, homophone awareness, or phonological awareness or were assigned to a control condition over a period of approximately 2 months, with 20-min lessons administered twice per week. Chinese word reading improved significantly more in the lexical compounding group as compared to the other groups. Vocabulary knowledge also showed a trend toward improvement in this group (p < .08) and improved significantly in the homophone group. Although phonological awareness improved most in the phonological awareness training group, this group showed no reading or vocabulary improvements relative to the other groups. Practice or Policy: The results underscore the importance of morphological awareness training for both word reading and vocabulary knowledge in young Chinese children.