Features of Islamic Children’s Books in English: A Case Study of Books Published in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to investigate the elements of Islamic children’s books that are written in English by focusing on books that are available in the Malaysian market and published in Malaysia. This study applies the content analysis method, by examining the selected books of their subject matter as well as the language. The results of the study reveal that Islamic books written for children in English are distinctive in terms of the content and language features.     

Goals, components, and factors considered in university development

It is generally known that the general goals of universities are to produce high-quality graduates for the job market, to continuously advance the frontier of knowledge in all the disciplines, and ultimately to advance human civilization. There can, however, be numerous specific goals which differ from one university to the other. Whatever it is, in order to achieve the desired goals, universities need to design a realistic strategic development plan, which must include, among others, the important logistical components and factors of university development. In Malaysia, little is known about university development planning process as a subject area. Annual reports and calendars published by universities do not provide sufficient information about the elements and aspects of high priorities in their strategic development plan. As such, we decided to conduct a study on eleven (11) foremost public universities in Malaysia—a country with a centralized education system—in order to examine the goals, components, and factors considered by university top-management in planning university development. We administered a checklist to 296 respondents, comprising deputy vice-chancellors or deputy rectors, registrars, deans, and directors. The checklist required the respondents to rate the consideration level on a scale of 1 (least considered) to 5 (highly considered) for each of the items on goals, components, and factors. This article reports the main findings of our study. Among other things, the most obvious result revealed by the study was that universities were very concerned with the relevancy of academic programs offered and their performance in research. It was rather surprising, however, that the top-management of public universities in Malaysia placed the goal of providing quality infrastructure and facilities at the lowest ranking. Also, this study revealed that the government, as a factor, exerted its prominence only in terms of university budget and research grants and the execution of some policies of national interest, but university expansion and development was largely driven by the university organization itself, i.e., on where, what, and how it wants to expand and grow. In this regard, public universities in Malaysia still enjoy a large degree of academic autonomy and a strong support by the government.     

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.     

Reflective and integrative learning and the role of instructors and institutions—evidence from Malaysia

Higher Education - The shift in contemporary workplaces has caused higher education institutions to place importance on developing non-academic attributes along with academic success to help...     

Amplification of SPPS150 and Salmonella typhi DNA with a high throughput oscillating flow polymerase chain reaction device

In this paper, a novel oscillating flow polymerase chain reaction (PCR) device was designed and fabricated to amplify SPPS150 and salmonella typhi. In this new design, the samples are shuttled (oscillating flow) inside a microfluidic chip to three different temperature zones required for DNA amplification. The amplification cycle time has markedly been reduced as the reagent volume used was only about 25% of that used in conventional PCRs. Bubble formation and adsorption issues commonly associated to chip based PCR were also eliminated. Based on the performance evaluated, it is demonstrated that this oscillating flow PCR has the advantages of both the stationary chamber and continuous flow PCR devices.     

Representations of swine flu: perspectives from a Malaysian pig farm

Novel influenza viruses are seen, internationally, as posing considerable health challenges, but public responses to such viruses are often rooted in cultural representations of disease and risk. However, little research has been conducted in locations associated with the origin of a pandemic. We examined representations and risk perceptions associated with swine flu amongst 120 Malaysian pig farmers. Thirty-seven per cent of respondents felt at particular risk of infection, two-thirds were somewhat or very concerned about being infected. Those respondents who were the most anxious believed particular societal "out-groups" (homosexuals, the homeless and prostitutes) to be at higher infection risk. Although few (4%) reported direct discrimination, 46% claimed friends had avoided them since the swine flu outbreak. Findings are discussed in the context of evolutionary, social representations and terror management theories of response to pandemic threat.