Online activities of urban Malaysian adolescents: report of a pilot study

The literacy practices of many communities today show new ways of meaning making in the contemporary, technological and digital culture. A number of Malaysian adolescents belong to this culture. This pilot study reports the preliminary findings of a larger study aimed at describing the online activities of Malaysian adolescents. Fifty‐four participants from an urban secondary school in Penang took part in this study. One finding showed that the percentages of language use on the Internet were: 80.6 per cent in English, 10.6 per cent in Bahasa Malaysia and 8.8 per cent in Chinese. In addition, the study also revealed some common websites that these adolescents frequented. The findings point to the need to investigate the extent of these online literacy practices beyond school among the adolescent population in Malaysia and to look into the implications for ESL education.     

Science Practicals in Schools: Are We Assessing Correctly?

Traditional practical examinations serve the purpose of ensuring that a candidate has some grounding in practical work. Regretably, however, they fall short in the promotion of process skills. A study done at the Institute of Education shows little relationship between tests which highlight these skills and the traditional practical tests. In today's context where emphasis should be placed on process rather than product, the continued dependence on traditional practical examinations does not seem to be in keeping with current curricula changes.     

The relation between intellectual and metacognitive skills in early adolescence.

The first objective of this study was establishing to what extent metacognitive skill is associated with intelligence. As a second objective, the impact of hints on the execution of metacognitive skills was investigated. Both issues have major implications for the training and transferability of metacognitive skills during performance on a representative school task. First, a standardized intelligence-test was administered to a group of first-year secondary-school students. Next, these students solved six math word problems, three without metacognitive hints and three including these hints. Metacognitive skilfullness was assessed through systematical observation, while learning performance consisted of performance on a math task and grade point average (GPA). Results show that without hints metacognitive skilfulness is the main predictor of initial learning, while intelligence additionally enters the regression equation after the presentation of metacognitive hints. GPA also appears to be predicted by a combination of intellectual and metacognitive skills. Consequences for the early acquisition of metacognitive skills are discussed.     

Study abroad information in the new media

Few studies have been conducted to identify what kinds of online information are provided by institutions and needed by international students in social media. This study aims to identify critical constructs of study abroad information (SAI) that can generate positive attitudes toward the university. Specifically, this study attempts to investigate the effectiveness of persuasive communication via social media among students looking to study abroad as well as examining their impacts on attitude change. This paper used the elaboration likelihood model to map out information processing flow of students looking to study abroad. Based on a series of qualitative and quantitative studies, the findings highlighted the importance of peripheral communication cues in influencing students’ attitudinal change toward overseas institutions and countries. This study uncovered that the peripheral cues mediate the relationship of study abroad online reviews and attitude change.     

The effectiveness of Orton‐Gillingham‐based instruction with Singaporean children with specific reading disability (dyslexia)

This article, written by Assistant Professor Noel Chia from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Professor Stephen Houghton from the Centre for Child and Adolescent Related Disorders, University of Western Australia, reports an empirical evaluation of a one‐year Orton‐Gillingham instruction based reading intervention programme. The programme was conducted with 77 (61 male and 16 female) Singaporean primary school‐aged children with dyslexia and a pre‐test/post‐test experimental group design was incorporated into a hybrid multiple baseline to inform analysis. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed a highly significant main effect for pre‐post on the composite dependent variable made up of word recognition age (WRA), word expression age (WEA) and sentence reading age (SRA) scores. Univariate F tests revealed significant improvements in WRA and WEA. These effects were modest (7% and 8% variance accounted for, respectively) but high enough to be considered educationally significant. There was no main effect for SRA and no main effect as well as no significant interaction effect for teacher, indicating that teacher was not a moderating variable in the gains made on the subtests.     

A conceptual design model for CBT development: A NATO case study

CBT (computer-based training) can benefit from the modern multimedia tools combined with network capabilities to overcame traditional education. The objective of this paper is focused on CBT development to improve strategic decision-making with regard to air command and control system for NATO staff in virtual environment. A conceptual design for the CBT of the Web-based command and control system including a methodology and a model of content relations is described. The system helps the personnel to effectively plan, execute, monitor and assess Air operations in a responsive and timely manner. The developed prototype of CBT for Web-based air command and control system for NATO is illustrated.     

Reducing transience during animation: a cognitive load perspective

Animation has an inherent advantage over static graphics when presenting dynamic content because it provides a more accurate and realistic depiction. Simultaneously, animation has an inherent disadvantage because most animated information is perceptually transient. In this quasi-experimental study, cognitive load theory was used to investigate the extent to which animation’s transience could be ameliorated with the incorporation of a pause/play feature or a tracing feature that lets previous information remain visually available on screen instead of disappearing after a brief display. Continuous animation, animation with pause/play and their equivalent static graphics, each designed with either a trace or no trace, were used to instruct 228 post-secondary technical education students on how an electrical circuit works. All formats were accompanied with the same on-screen text. The pattern of results, especially the interactions, indicated that animation with a pause/play format obtained the highest efficiency in the no tracing condition, while the continuous animation format obtained the highest efficiency in the tracing condition. These results suggest that by restructuring the dynamic information, the negative instructional consequences of the transient nature of animation can be counteracted to make it more efficient for learning than static graphics.     

Against standardised experience: leaving our marks on the palimpsests of disciplinary knowledge

This article attempts to establish the scope of critical management education in a formal educational setting. It is based on an empirical study of 24 academic staffs’ experience of engaging critical management education in four UK University Business Schools. The study seems to show that there are significant barriers to and potential pitfalls in introducing critical management education in a formal higher educational setting. The problems seem to be attributable to the institutionalised assessment rules and regulations, marketisation of higher education, power embedded in the professional roles of university teachers, learning styles and cultural diversity of students, and classroom practices required to support critical teaching and learning. Critical management education requires labour intensive pedagogy, and the approach is not to be recommended to Business Schools that are constrained by resources and experiencing low staff morale, otherwise it may generates individual self-doubt and cynicism.